Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)
by C. Mechayoshi
Summary: (Check for frequent fixes and updates!) Mario and Bowser are rivals, eternal enemies, and sometimes tennis partners when their worlds are split in two by a kidnapping plot gone horribly right and the resulting intangible but vengeful threat. *New summary*
1. The Enemy

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

'**The Enemy' (Chapter 1)**

**Preface: Mario and Bowser, eternal enemies, rivals, and more before a single pivotal decision splits their lives and the world in two. Can they make another one to fix it or is it all too far gone?...**

* * *

_Zoom_! A mushroom powered racer lifts off a ramp to clear the one-thousand foot drop below. _Screech_! The racer in eighth overshoots a tight curve. Sparks fly from the metal rails separating them from death. The racer directly behind misses even that and Lakitu rushes to 'fish' them to safety. The first place racer uses their Koopa Troopa shells to block the perfectly aimed red shell barrage from the disgruntled second place racer.~

This was a Mario Kart race where a group of heroes, villains, and those somewhere in between routinely took it to the streets, the dirt tracks, the underwater tracks, sand paths, snow piles, and whatever Cheese Land is supposed to be to win the gold. On this day as the start of a recreation weekend, the race took place on the spacey Rainbow Road. Calming music played and comets darted through the dark sky. It would almost be easy to miss fierce rivalries at every turn..

"Finally I caught up with ya, moustache.." King Bowser Koopa growled as he trailed a few yards behind Mario in his kart. His massive clawed hands gripped the steering wheel tighter in concentration. He'd fought his way up from the pack and not even his low acceleration was going to stop him.

Gentle wind blew through Mario's hair and mustache as he cooly held the lead in the final lap. He lived for the thrill and would host these death defying events everyday if he could. (In fact he had for a moment but then all of his friends protested outside his house, so that was cut short real soon.) The next item box gifted him a single banana, immediately deployed behind his kart as he saw Bowser approaching in his rear view.

"Now you can't ignore me, plumber boy!" Bowser pulled up parallel, and so he and Mario took turns glaring at each other for a half second before bringing their attention back to the daring terrain. "Just wait until I get a Super Leaf!" Bowser veered into Mario's path, bumping the plumber almost off the edge.

Mario tried to retaliate but Bowser didn't bulge from the middle of the road. "Gained some pounds? You know that item's only in Mario Kart 7, right?"

"Like I care what blasted game this is! Gahh!"

Bowser veered over again and Mario had to tap the breaks, allowing the third place racer to come up. With unusual speed Toad zoom past Mario and Bowser. Ahead of them and right before a anti-gravity loop in the stage, the thundercloud trailing the mushroom retainer went off. _Zap_! In a blinding flash Toad was shrunk, letting Mario and Bowser overtake his spot.

"Good riddance. These losers were starting to get too much narration," Bowser said. "This is about OUR rivalry. Now watch this. I've done all of the calculations and this will hit you smack in that stupid round face!" Bowser tossed a shell at the wall before the loop but it bounced back and instead hit someone way behind him.

"Daddy! Whhhhy?" someone that sounded like Bowser Junior screeched.

Nervously whistling, Bowser pretended he didn't hear that. Still neck and neck with his rival, they went on the anti gravity loop around, the last one before the finish. They heard Yoshi catching up, then many other racers when catastrophe stuck! With a clap of thunder everyone was shrunken now, even the twelfth place racer. How could this happen? Well actually far up in the heavens, even farther than Rainbow Road, the Great Eldstar's pager went off, a way to relay that their known Mushroom World needed attention somehow.

"_Strike? Y/N_?" the flickering screen of the fate altering device conveyed. Before the ancient star could answer, the pager vibrated off his counter top to the white marble floors with such a loud clack that he also dropped the star shard he was polishing. The priceless artifact made more noise and now he'd surely woken everyone up in the Star Temple.

"Are you okay?" Twink's childlike voice echoed from across the hall. The star child had company as a few other stars, guardians of the world for the pure hearted, poured into the cramped space.

"All is fine," Klevar spoke first, ancient books for study tucked under his arms. "There was a Mario Kart scheduled today and the Great Eldstar must consider the plead for his power carefully..."

Eldstar nodded but retrieving the interstellar communication device he didn't bother to correct Klevar with the fact that he always auto replied 'yes'. It was just easier that way. What could go wrong?

The race continued just yards from the finish, but in fun size! Eleven racers, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Koopa, Toadette, Junior, and Birdo were in one massive group with all the same stats. Condolences to anyone who spent many coins on a high tier list max speed load out. They bumped each other relentlessly and a few racers even fell off. Mario pushed the pedal to the metal at the opening for first. Bowser saw this and slammed the gas as well. The finish line was only a few meters away and the two gunned it past all remaining racers. Both hero and villain crossed the line in miniature form.

Later and normal sized, the eleven racers eagerly gathered around in the an open garage like area Rainbow Road had to see their final score.

"Dfkd s flksdj f lksdfe wr!" Toad spoke to everyone who was getting restless. Getting lightning attacked twice, he was twitching a lot and everyone stood back.

"Keep your pants on, alright? I finally got this junk to work," Lakitu grumbled behind the dusty laptop. "Third place Yoshi. Second… Toad by some miracle." Lakitu paused for a while before reading the final result on screen, counting over and over on his little fingers.

"WHO WON ALREADY?!" several racers shouted.

Lakitu rolled his eyes, ready to quit forever. "First place in the cup with the highest score is….Mario-"

Mario jumped in the air in triumph.

"-and Bowser with a score of fifty points. The rest of you? You lose, go home!"

Mario landed on the ground wide eyed as everyone else dispersed. Baffled beyond belief he had no clue how this happened. He came up with this sport based on his brief experiences as a taxi driver and knew the game well. There could not be two winners, if so no one really won!

"Umm, excuse me?" Mario spoke up to Lakitu who ignored him.

"Get over there!" Bowser cut him off. "I don't count this as a win either. Me sharing the trophy with you? Gross. But, uh, I'll keep it safe for ya." He held fake gold trophy close to himself dearly.

"Keep it koopa since you're already breathing all over it. Let's have a rematch right after this week's sports. My tennis game with Luigi is tomorrow but after that we can duel. Deal?"

Bowser flashed his sharp teeth in an expression that could vaguely be described as a smile."You're on!.. Oh, the brats are here to pick me and Junior up," he added as a massive koopa airship was approaching above. Bowser looked around. The lobby had soda machines of several sorts and stale candy under a hood. "I'm getting a drink, want something?"

"I'm on a diet." Of course the plumber wasn't, and Bowser staring through him let him know the deflection failed.

Bowser instead guffawed. "Yeah right! Since one of us here isn't fat, spare me a few coins. A want a Morel Moxie and I left my wallet in my other shell."

Mario begrudgingly dug in his pocket to see what he had, noting how quickly everyone had left. His friends sure knew how to hustle away after a sports game. He had lint, a paper clip, and three coins. "Where is everyone?"

Bowser flashed him that 'grin' again. "Dunno. What's stopping you from joining 'em? I'm the one stuck here waiting here for my ride. You could have left anytime but I know, I'm irresistible. Ha! Why don't you tell the princess that too sometime?"

Mario face palm so that he didn't see the shadow of the anchor from Bowser's doomship on the ground and swinging right over his head. Right as Bowser was slipping the coins in a machine, the heavy steel anchor made a sudden drop. _Bam_! There was another wipe out, but it wasn't on the track this time. Mario was now sprawled out on the ground, knocked out cold…

…

Keep your friends close, enemies closer. That motto the plumber took to heart whether racing to save the world and save the princess or casually go-karting with Bowser. Either way '_the enemy_' stayed under close watch visually and audibly. The two spoke nearly everyday, if only just to make sure the koopa had nothing up his sleeves! The fight against 'the enemy' never stopped and so Mario never stopped- Unless he had a mild concussion…

After a six hour stay at the Sky Land ER, Mario was discharged and told to rest and take his aspirin. Before leaving a traumatized looking nurse handed him a special discharge letter from a 'pal'.

_To Mario: This is Bowser. Yeah my koopaling brats don't really have a license to drive the airship. Whoops! I guess they were rushing because Junior has a Koopa Scouts trip to go on tonight. Anyway I'll make it up to you, especially since my kids are driving me crazy these days. How? I'll be your tennis partner tomorrow! Genius right? Cause then you'll actually win and that'll mean I will win! Luigi can sit on the bleachers. I changed the forms and everything already by [the word 'threatening' is scratched out] 'explaining' the situation to Lakitu. Get ready!_

_PS. This isn't a ploy to get my very own medal for once or anything.. Btw, our shared trophy is still safe and under my watchful care!_

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Author note: ****Titled as a sequel but actually a ****do-over**** of my story from 2017. ****While the theme ****and ****some**** events**** are**** borrowed early on, I'm going in a completely different direction very soon ****and I overall consider this a new story which is why its a new separate entry and I'm keeping the old stories up.**

**TL;DR: T****his story is meant to replace 'Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever' (1) and 'Mario and Bowser's New Frenemy Adventure'. **

**Completed (for my reference): 5/16/19, 5/17, 5/26/19, 6/2, 6/4, 6/10**

**edit: 6/20/19, 6/23, 7/1**


	2. Bros before Koopas

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

'**Bros before Koopas' (Chapter 2)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo**

* * *

Luigi groggily leaned up and bed and stretched while Mario snored loudly on the other side of the room buried in covers. This was typical when back-to-back weekend events were scheduled. Mario would sleep a few minutes longer and somehow, to Luigi at least, he'd gain twice as much energy for the day because of it. Luigi wished he could use that tactic but he couldn't ignore a blaring alarm like his brother could. He stared at the darkness for a moment when Mario's cellphone, a basic Yoshimobile identical to his own, rung on the nightstand. Luigi checked the caller id.

"Bowser?!" he gasped.

"Booowzer..." Mario mumbled, tangling himself in the sheets.

Luigi jumped on Mario's bed and shook him violently. "Bro wakeup wakeup it's Bowser calling! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!"

'_You have one new message.'*Beep*_

Mario's eyelids slowly open as the voicemail began to play:

"Hey pipes for brains, wake up call! Bwa ha ha!" A loud 'Koopa Symphony' was in the background of Bowser's voice, being so loud as to go through thick walls. "Friendly reminder for ya: we gotta win, or else! ...Oh and tell the Princess I'll be looking my best just for her!"

Mario rolled his eyes. Luigi didn't notice over the clacking of his own teeth.

"Lastly. Umm, well. What's the recipe for that Couples Cake again?... You know, the one only friends eat together? *Mumbling noises were heard*- Kamek, no this isn't Mario- *mumbling noises* Umm, gotta go. Keep that touchscreen smokin'! That's what phones use now right? See ya, plumber breath."

_*Beep* 'End of message. You have no new messages.' _

Mario slowly craned Luigi's way, knowing he'd screwed up when his brother sat on the bed slumping. "Listen, I didn't know Bowser took your name off the board until yesterday."

"Just forget it. My tennis elbow's been acting up anyway."

"Don't say that. I would have told you when I got home from Sky Land-"

"About that, are you feeling aright?" Luigi asked all a sudden. He was nearly in bed by the time Mario returned yesterday and didn't perceive much other than the word 'concussion' before he was too sleepy to think about it.

"Just a small headache. Little bro, I promise this whole thing won't happen again.. _Bros before koopas,_ right?" Mario really meant it, but he couldn't tell if his brother realized it when he left the bedroom without a response. Now what did he say wrong?

...

"Bowser kicked you off the roster and so now you're just gonna spectate today?" Toad repeated to be sure. The twitchy subordinate of the princess ran a concession stand in front of the tennis stadium among others. It was sunny in Toad Town with crowds already starting to gather for the tournament. Toad had a glass tip jar half full of shiny coins testifying to the fact that he was the most successful of the vendors selling useless junk.

"You heard me right," Luigi replied. "Do you have a chill? You've been jittery since yesterday."

"I'll live. Wanna try a shroom shake?" Toad held up a pitcher full of something pale blue. The other flavor was yellow.

"What flavor is that?"

"My favorite, homeboy. Purple flavor."

"But that's blue."

Toad shrugged. "Stop being picky. You're already the player two option so don't be a jerk too!"

"Okay okay! I'll try it!" Well, he didn't want to be jerk did he? So Luigi took a sip, tasting a flavor explosion of every fruit except blueberry. While his head was tilted up Mario snuck up on him and poked him in the back. In alarm Luigi sprayed juice all over himself and Toad's stand.

"Get lost!" Luigi lashed out.

Mario tried to apologize but Princess Peach, ruler of the Kingdom came along just in time to whisk him away. As far as Luigi was concerned, that was good.

Toad was looking at how his yellow cups were now green due to Luigi spitting blue juice. "Whoa. You just made a new favor! Thanks." Toad picked up a megaphone. "SHROOM SHAKES 50% OFF! TRY MY NEW 'LUIGI' FLAVOR!"

"I don't think people should drink that, but I have to go." Luigi really itched to sit down and see the game. Seeing Bowser in his spot wasn't going to be the hard part, it would be resisting the urge to root for Daisy, when ever she chose to show up. He and the Sarasaland ruler talked a lot, but kept it down low. He let the general rush of the audience get past him first and curiously someone else was doing the same.

"Hey, I haven't seen you since Mario Party- whatever number we're on! Do you still play tennis with that mean curve?" Luigi asked the boo diddly who gazed back bashfully.

"Luigi! I was just thinking about you, hehe!"

Meanwhile Yoshi arrived from the bus. The bus system was new to Toad Town in the recent decades along with cell towers and he appreciated it, living isolated from most at Yoshi's Island and otherwise having to rely on boat. Despite the inconvenience he always supported anything Mario did. He hung up on the call he was having with his fiancee Birdo, who stayed home mundanely or perhaps wisely. Toad was packing up when he approached the stand.

"Toad, how's Mario? Is he still going to play? I heard rumors that Bowser rigged the match."

Toad busily stacked up cups and other materials as Yoshi read his banner and dropped a few coins in the tip jar. He tried to support or at least be neutral with everyone but he wondered deep down if it was all just to avoid feeling irrelevant as the oldest hero still running around with Mario and crew. He was older than the famous brothers, the princess, even Bowser!

Toad lifted his head up from the overstuffed bag he was cramming things in. "I didn't see ya. Thanks you crazy dinosaur! Mario seemed okay earlier so I guess Daisy and I will have to knock him out a second time."

Yoshi's smile flattened and his tail lowered, not finding it funny.

"What? Too soon? Here, try a freebie."

Yoshi received the green drink. After a sip or two, he slurped it all up. "Hmm. I like it but why does this taste like Luigi?.."

...

To be literate was a marvelous thing. Accurate communication was the cornerstone of advanced civilization, even if attributing that label to Dark Land was a stretch. Ludwig Von Koopa would know as the land's prince and commander in chief. 'Reprisal in A minor', his very own masterpiece, played from the closed up auditorium room of Bowser's Castle and he stood outside listening. At least one sibling had great taste. The music stopped suddenly and Lemmy kicked open the door, smacking Ludwig in the face.

"Oops! I didn't see you there." The younger koopaling juggled five bowling pins and was his junior by almost two years. "I love blasting music, especially your stuff. You didn't tell me your hit was on the Top 40 pop station."

Ludwig held the knot on his snout. "I told the record company I only wanted the adult contemporary- Oh forget that. Since you are here I need my radio back, thank you."

...

Ludwig tuned in to WMUSH for local Toad Town news. The sports coverage was coming right up and while he hated sports if board games didn't count he wouldn't miss it this time.

Bowser threw another dart at Mario. The metal tipped barb dug in an inch deep, straight in Mario's nose. Crudely taped to a wall in the dark locker room with most of the bulbs out was a tattered 36x24 poster of Mario doing a 'v' sign, speckled with innumerable tiny holes.

"Aww, you own posters of me!" Mario watched Bowser assault that poster for thirty seconds, long enough to notice that Bowser's red hair gelled back and a nice smell overall.

"Yes, AND?!" Bowser retorted, jolting Mario from his stare. "These are for motivation to wipe the floor with you in real life. I've been in here for like an hour and I've warmed up. Whatta bout you?"

"I got plenty of warm up. A reporter from the Mushroom Press flagged me for an interview, I ran across a hot dog stand inside of the stadium, I spoke to Princess Peach in the umpire area and then-"

"That ain't exercise!"

Mario walked around in a circle. "Guess again. The hotdog guy was packing up and I had to chase him down."

"So much for that fake diet, eh?" Bowser smirked.

Mario smiled back. "Clever koopa. What's our game plan?"

"Hit the ball hard! Also… don't suck!"

"Sure. We'll do it your way. Just this one time." A great opportunity to get to know 'the enemy' better so that he can be crushed later, he reasoned.

It clicked in Bowser's head that they were smiling at each other for too long so it contort into a scowl. "Exactly moustache. Here's my next tip just for you: have some equipment! Where's your racket? You ain't playing with that are you?"

Mario held out his signature 'M' tennis racket, burnt black from years of his fireball power shots. He swung in the air a few times, testing his grip. "Why not?"

"Your crappy tennis racket is toast. Literally! I could put it on bread."

Mario noticed some black crumbly bits stuck to his glove and quickly hid the racket behind his back before Bowser could see. "So maybe it's well used, but everyone knows you have speed problems on the field so it evens out."

Bowser snatched him up by his collar. Mario flailed as his boots dangle above the ground several feet. Who would be daft enough to pulverize their own tennis partner minutes before the game? Bowser apparently! But then the doors of the locker room opened just wide enough to let the outdoors light bleed in and shine on Bowser. It was Toad.

"I can't see!" Bowser yelled, shielding his face and dropping the plumber with a cracking noise.

"Then we'll win even easier! Nice poster by the way!" Toad said while poking his head inside the room. The door shut and it was just the two again.

"Ugh... Fungusface," Bowser muttered under his breath, "Didn't we have this talk before about extra characters?"

"I think a bad thing just happened.." Mario got off his butt. Thankfully- or not, the crack came from his racket in his back pocket. It was in pieces. Each piece he grabbed shattered into another before it soon reassemble a pile of charcoal.

Bowser with a sigh punched a locker. The door popped open and let his own ragged duffle bag hit the ground. "This is just sad to watch so stop crying. I'm gonna be nice because it might have sort of kind of been my fault, but mostly 'cause we need to play. Here!"

He gave Mario a spare green tennis racket which otherwise resembled Bowser's purple one, down even to the red menacing Bowser emblem on it. Its balance was different but Mario tried to test it out as Bowser observed. "Different flex than I'm used to, but thanks," Mario admitted, feeling weird about what he was saying.

"Just try not to fall on your face, hear me? It's game time." Bowser stomp toward the door like he was satisfied. "Ahhg!"

"What?"

"That stupid bright light again!" Bowser growled as he blindly stumble outside and bump into people in the sunlight.

Toad skipped back to his team's locker room in the same mood he was always in. How could he not be? He got to live in the castle as a manager, represent every toad ever in games, and play with Daisy who always rejected his efforts to team until now. Daisy was sitting on the benches doing something on her phone. The princess had on an orange tank-top and shorts and her hair was tied back with a hair band.

"You ready Daisy?"

Daisy continued to jab at at the touchscreen with hints of frustration. "Just remember the plan we discussed over the phone."

Toad inched closer. "Are you alright?"

Daisy drop the phone on the bench, shedding the prickly exterior. "It's political stuff from back home. There was an excavation at an old temple near my castle and since then it's just so different there lately..."

"What? They got a gold rush?" Toad guessed. He knew little of her land though.

She shook her head. "I can't even call it that. I posted about it on my wall but Mario scheduled a game on this Friday anyway!"

"Would you rather not play?"

Daisy leaned back against the nearest grungy locker. "I don't wanna miss out on whooping them, I just think the others forget that I live across the globe with other things to worry about sometimes."

He came up closer and almost put an arm around her, except he backed out at the last minute from of shyness. "I'm sure they totally care about you. I care about you!.. Mario and the others were probably just distracted or whatever. You know how much drama they get in. Yeah, basic craziness for them."

Daisy faced his way, smiling for the first time. "I guess you're right. Thanks."

"No problem-"

"-And I fight for myself anyway," she remark proudly.

Right outside of locker room as the music was starting, they got ambushed by a delivery guy with a baseball cap tilted down covering his face and a low dry tone when he spoke briefly. He dropped off a paper bag with two 12oz cans in it. He scramed so quickly the duo hardly had time to recognize what happened or tell him thank you. Daisy turned to her left to find Toad gulping his soda down immediately. It was a can of Fungus Up, an expensive beverage and her very own. Could it mean?- No it couldn't. But free was free.

"You can't step on the field with a drink," Lakitu told them, one of several gathering around as Mario and Bowser were arriving from the other side to much excitement. A modest sized crowd gathered in the all purpose outdoor stadium, intended to host small sports events in Toad Town. The right side of the stadium had lots of toads, bob-omb buddies, nokis, piantas, and other friendly species but on the left however were koopa troop soldiers, bandits, thwomps, and other enemies likely to root for Bowser.

Daisy gave the umpire an 'ok' symbol. She burped and then crushed the can, the lemon-lime aftertaste still fresh.

"YEEEAAAHHH DAISY!" she suddenly did a triple back flip and stuck the landing like a pro, exciting the crowd. Toad just ran around in circles in a hyper way but it was enough to get their side of the audience going.

"Ladies and gentlemen...and Bowser!" Lakitu and Bowser exchanged nasty looks. "In this doubles match we have Mario and Bowser verses Princess Daisy and Toad!"

Everyone was now into position. Toad and Bowser were hugging the net and Daisy and Mario farther back. To Mario the competition seemed fierce and both Toad and Daisy had developed a twitch, not unheard of from Toad considering how often he got electrocuted, but very odd for the princess. Even odder, Mario thought, was the slight foaming at the mouth.

**Thwak**!

The tennis ball hit Mario in the gut, bouncing off to the sidelines. Laughter could be heard from the crowd.

"Bed time's over, plumber boy! Wake up!" Bowser growled. His eyes had well adjusted to the light again by now and Mario could almost feel his daggers.

"For the LAST time, first serve Mario!" Lakitu repeated. Mario could have sworn it was never said a first time. Either way he got up. It was game time.

* * *

**To be continued…**

"**Author note: Get Ready To Rumble! Next chapter at least." -taken from Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever Chapter 3**

**Dates: 5/13/19 -5/19, 5/24, 5/26/19, 6/2, 6/4, 6/8, 6/10, 6/12**

**Page breaks: 8/11/20**


	3. Power shots were cheap anyway

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

'**Power shots were cheap anyway' (Chapter Three)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo. **

* * *

Luigi settled in the nosebleed section with his friend, where he liked it. The hike there was never fun but there was always room for personal space.

"What were you going by again?"

"Booigi the second because there's already a 'Booigi' out there. But it's super cool to see you again, hehe. I just live in Forever Forest now East of Toad Town."

"I'm going to have to visit." Even if that place is terrifying, Luigi added in his mind. A moment later his attention drifted towards the field way below for a shock. Mario had a Bowser racket! "Hey, that's not right!" he blurt out. He stood up to get zero attention so he sat back down. "Sometimes I don't know why I sit up here."

"I know why. Because I'm a loser," Boo said matter of factly.

"Me too. Thanks for the reminder."

The crowd around them cut the conversation short with roaring laughter.

Luigi squinted his eyes. "What happened?"

Boo in turn covered theirs. "I think the umpire hit Mario with a ball!"

Luigi didn't want to admit it but that served him right.

The sun beat down on everyone, thousands of eyes were watching, including radio and news reporters, and the game was on. Mario swung towards Toad who sprint to return the ball. Bowser intercepted at the net and hit hard in Daisy's direction. The ball was almost past Daisy when she did a back-flip into the its path and hit it backhand. It then flew straight between the gap of Mario and Bowser and neither could reach despite the effort.

"Love-15." Lakitu announced.

Mario was left scratching his head at that one.

"Don't know either, plumber boy. Let's just win."

Mario served again towards Toad who curved the ball around Bowser at the net. Mario sliced the ball in front of Daisy. She delivered a nasty topspin straight down the line. Bowser did a mad dash towards center and returned it too hard so it shot out of bounds.

"Out. Love-30!"

Mario hit lightly towards Daisy. She shot back towards Mario who returned it center. Toad sprung ahead and then the ball was flying back to Mario before he could prepare. In one blink it was gone.

"Game point!"

Mario couldn't believe how the points were adding up. Every move he made was now calculated against their unpredictable rivals. Thing was, he'd need to be a super computer process it all when he was a cheap Game&Watch at most. They were collectively faster, coordinated without looking, and hard hitting. He avoid aiming towards either Toad or Daisy directly and let Bowser get aggressive up front. After several volleys Bowser did an illegal power shot sending the ball like a bullet bill past Daisy. She did a last ditch back-flip and lobbed the ball in the air, far enough to make a tiny shadow on the ground.

Bowser followed the shadow. "I got it! I got it!"

The shadow moved over Mario's head. "I'll get it!"

Bowser pushed Mario aside. "You'll screw it up, stupid. Move!"

Mario shoved back. "I was already here!"

"You heard me, grrrr!"

"Adsdfdsf sdf sdfsd!"

They turned their heads to the other side of the net where Toad was making those strange noises and Daisy was doing a handstand for no reason. The ball bounced right between Mario and Bowser. Both swung and the two iron rackets clung against each other spectacularly. Mario was bounced back while Bowser's racket escaped his claws and flung into the crowds.

"Game, Daisy and Toad," Lakitu announced. He ducked as cabbages and rotten cheese originating from the Koopa Troop affiliates in the crowd soar over his head. Peach was uneventfully in the other umpire chair. She disapproved of what was happening on Lakitu's side but she was more concerned with the winning team. Daisy was now spinning on her head like a break dance move, gaining more and more uncontrollable speed. Toad stood in one place shaking violently while still speaking those nonsensical words.

Peach hopped down from her seat. "Oh my, call the medics!"

"Just in time because I quit!" Lakitu fled as medics flooded the field. Some attended to Daisy after she finally collapsed like a spin-top that's run out of steam while others attempted to stabilize Toad. Reporters and civilians were also joining the crowd even though they were certainly not authorized to.

"We need space people!" shout one magikoopa nurse checking Daisy's pulse.

"Could have used a pause after 'space'," remarked his Kong ER assistant. Just then however, they spotted whom they thought was Tatanga the Space Alien in the crowds, so they began to pack up and evacuate Toad and Daisy out of the tennis court before any baddie got any ideas.

Bowser was like a bump on a log until seeing Toad and Daisy leave on cots woke him up. He followed the last of the medical staff. "How dare those losers bail now! Hey! Yeah you!"

Mario intercepted him. "Because they _totally_ chose to have a medical emergency right now in a game they were easily winning? Even you aren't that stupid."

Smoke threatened to pour from Bowser's nostrils. "Shut up!" But otherwise he stood back from the commotion, waiting impatiently with his arms crossed.

Luigi watched as Mario and Bowser lost the first set. Crowds stood up and blocked the view of what was happening for a moment and poking his head around them, Luigi saw medics on the field. He thought he'd imagined it but it was all too real.

Boo jumped out of their seat. "We'd better get out of here!"

Luigi joined them. "Uh huh! But how?"

Boo grabbed his hand, startling Luigi. His vision went dark for a second or two then he was right outside the mostly vacant courtyard standing on the ground. They'd phased completely though the building astonishingly.

"Thanks, buddy!... Umm, we can let go now."

Boo let go slowly, flushing. "Sorry, hehe. What do you think happened?"

"Something fishy so lets make a special stop. I never get to do anything with Mario around, but since he isn't.." He fumbled on his phone to message Mario as people began to spill out of the stadium.

"Let's?" Boo squeak. "You want to work with me?"

Luigi put the phone away. "Why not? I've always wanted a sidekick. Remember when we were the 'Scare Pair' in Mario Party 6? Instead of collecting stars let's collect.. bad guys!"

Boo rushed forward and joined their hands to his to form the official handshake of the bestest unlikeliest friendship.

Peach called security and left with Toad and Daisy, taking advantage of these strange new air medical helicopters. Mario got mixed up in the crowd before someone flagged him down, a familiar face in the sea of many confused people still zipping around the stadium.

"Mario, I have enough for the bus. Come on," said his dinosaur friend. Yoshi strolled along side him, studying his confused expression. "Oh right. Your brother texted you that he's taking your bike for an emergency but I think he mass sent it by mistake. I'm flattered that I'm in his 'favs' list I guess."

"Emergency? Well thanks for having this all planed out so soon. I hope he's alright."

"He didn't make the text sound urgent. I'm more concerned about you."

"Huh?" Mario replied dismissively. "I feel fine and I'll buy you lunch if you get over it! Are we even now?" Mario smiled.

The seemingly endless but not actually bus ride dulled the mind of one passenger in particular. Mario had two types of daydreams: those involving food, the good ones, and ones involving his heroic duties in a town and among people that counted on him the most. Those were the even better ones. He could blast down battleships, topple tanks, flatten fortress, even go toe to toe with a dragon koopa beast, but he was still the linchpin. He could never forget that. What if he found himself up against something bigger than him?

Who would his friends rely on then?

Then the packed Mushroom Bus swung around another curve.

"You always were rough transport," Mario jest to Yoshi on his right.

"Was Bowser suspicious at any point today?" Yoshi asked more bluntly than Mario expected. "When did he arrive with his Mushroom Kingdom pass? Strange sights or smells?"

Caught off guard he thought about it. "Nothing out of the ordinary except how he smelled which was.. good! The cologne was probably '_Fleur de __la mère koopa_'. It's popular in Dark Land when koopas are trying to attract- Er. No, I'm sure that's not a clue." In the process of explaining that, being scrutinized made him sweaty. Or maybe it was just the bus's air condition being broken..

The bus arrived at Mushroom Kingdom Hospital, a flat roofed three story building made of whitewashed stone on the Eastern side of Toad Town. There was the center and then a left and right wing. A tall mushroom flag was atop the roof which also was the spot for their airlift services. Mario and Yoshi went inside where the waiting room was already full of people. After saying 'excuse me' a lot, they approached the reception office where the head nurse named 'Nass T.' was stationed. While glued to her computer screen, her mouse darted around the mouse pad frequently, clicking every five seconds.

"Hello? Are Toad and Daisy in a room by now?"

"Room 444," she droned, never bothering to look up.  
...

In another side of town, Luigi and Boo continued to ride the Mach bike. It had a compartment on the side for passengers that Luigi typically occupied, but now he was the driver and he finally knew what it was like to be in control, while adhering to the speed limit of course. Still, he felt like a rebel, wild and free even if in a very small way.

Boo pointed to an item shop. "I know that place. Some bullies beat me up over there this one time!"

"The 'Toddlers-R-Us'?"

Boo was hesitant for a moment. "...Yeah?"

Luigi nodded instead of judging. "Oh, me too! Toddlers can be fierce, more so than adults!"

They stopped at the Mushroom Press, a small building that provided the town's newspapers and offices for many local reporters and journalists. Luigi parked off the sidewalk and squeezed off the thick helmet to find Boo shaking beside him.

"C-can I wait outside?"

"It'll be alright," Luigi assured.

Boo faced the door for a moment, biting their tongue. "Okay. I'll do it.."

The press had an open floor plan with office cubicles being the only thing forming little rooms and hallways. On their left was the nicer ones, with gold plaques, file cabinets, and an overall professional aura. On the right had less reporters, ostensibly the 'fresh on the block' folks with a few folders to their name if that. Boo heard the clacking of the keyboards, the scribbling of the pens, and the shuffling of the papers then bolted back out the doors.

"Are they okay?" the desk clerk asked.

Luigi spun around. "Uh, I'll have to check. Before I go, was Kylie Koopa in? She's a friend of Mario-"

"Right here!" A female koopa with a pink shell and green hat stumbled out of a nearby cubicle, sending paper everywhere. Others around her eyed her exasperatedly. "You gotta 'scoop' for me?!"

Luigi quickly explained what happened during the game because he didn't trust his brother to not screw something up. He was about to excuse himself when she reached out and grabbed him.

"Don't bail yet, brother! I can't believe such a promising game went south. Susie Que over there interviewed Mario before the game. Let's see, are they back yet? Yoohoo!" A green capped toad in a suit, 'Mitch Toad' according to his fancy name plate, had a cubical across from hers. He pulled his chair out into the hallway and observed, his thick black eyebrows down turned.

"Why don't you just relocate to the amateur side already, babe?" the toad asked in a mocking yet unexpectedly deep tone.

Kylie chucked a huge pink eraser at him which created a shouting match. Caught in the middle Luigi blew a whistle. Everyone stopped abruptly.

Outside, Boo paced around and around on the sidewalk slapping themselves repeatedly in the forehead. "Uggghhh. Boo, you're so stupid! Can you be brave for once? Okay. 1..2..3.."

Boo was startled by a dark boo with blonde stringy and obvious wig floating up all of a sudden. Boo knew them vaguely, a boo cousin!

"Laugh or else, buddy," the dark boo spoke gruffly but jokingly.

"This guy giving you trouble?" Luigi said as soon as the door swung open.

"_The_ Luigi? Neat. Wait. Oh crap!..." the dark boo brushed past the plumber to head inside. Luigi shut the door quick suppressing a shiver.

"I'm sorry, Luigi! I freaked out," Boo explained, emotions flooding forth. "I just- I just heard-"

Luigi grabbed his helmet again. "Don't worry about it. I don't know how some people function! Eek!"

...

Mario knocked on room 444 before stepping in.

"Visiting hours are-" The doctor leaned up from stooping over where Toad and Daisy lay in the wheeled beds. "Ah hem. I am Doctor Professor Koopa. Why don't you wait outside?" he asked very politely. His tone was wispy.

Yoshi stood in the doorway. "Who again, if you don't mind?"

"You haven't heard of me? I've served your princess for many years in the castle! Ask her!"

"You? A koopa doctor?" Mario almost laughed at the absurdity.

"Don't be speciest," Yoshi said under his breath, gently nudging Mario back.

Mario obliged and walked back out with Yoshi. "I didn't mean it like that. Why aren't they checking vitals? All I had was a bruise yesterday after the race and I was hooked up to a million computers."

The dinosaur shrugged. "Let's just let them do their job for a moment."

With a smile Mario adjusted his cap. "Perfect idea."

Yoshi eyed him skeptically. "You actually agree?"

"Of course, it's not like I'm Dr. Mario.." From where they stood Mario could see the crowded lobby full of Toad Town citizens. What was Bowser doing right now? Before thinking about it too hard, he saw Luigi walking inside.

Mario waved him over. "What took so long? Why did you have to take the bike?"

"I walked outside and saw that it had a flat tire and went to fix it. Also this is Boo. They were at seated next to me during the game." Luigi subtly tapped his friend, prompting them to speak.

"Hi guys, hehe.." Boo waved awkwardly.

"So where are they?" Luigi continued. "Is it bad?"

Mario lead the way retracing their steps but this time they got stopped by a nurse long before reaching the right room.

"No one past this point!" The shy guy nurse in blue robe held his stubby arms out.

Mario sized him up but remain cordial. "That must be a mistake. We were just back here."

The nurse shook his head smugly. "Sorry. Princess's orders! She's at the outside tables right now with a guest. Oops! I mean she's in a secure location. Don't go there, or else!"

"Or- or else?" Boo repeated, jittering all over.

While Boo sit it out, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi rushed to the emptied out eating area around the back of the hospital to get a surprise. In the center Princess Peach was at a table having a quiet chat with someone else very dear to Mario's heart, just in another way he supposed.

"Mario!" Peach greeted, trying to not blush. "We were just discussing old times with someone we both happened to know. The person was at my castle when I was a little girl and then he moved out."

Luigi rushed to the middle of the table. "That's nice and all but Princess, but Bowser is within thirty feet of the you! Get him!"

"Hold it, hold it," said Bowser seated across from Peach, legs crossed. He had no pastry like her, instead a bi-folded Dark Land newspaper, easily distinguishable by the yellow tinged crusty look. "I'm just sticking it out to see if those idiots will be well enough for a rematch. She mentioned that professor guy and I remembered that he was a mad scientist at my castle before I fired 'em. We couldn't talk about it in the open. You mushroom freaks would lose it. Does that make you feel better?" Bowser bared his fangs in that smile but not a smile expression. Luigi felt silly for the overreaction but collectively they were all a bit flustered.

Peach scoot off the bench with a pout. "The staff here are always twisting my directions."

"Please twist my direction! Ha!"

Yoshi tossed an egg at Bowser on behalf of everyone. "Are we supposed to believe that you're going to wait around outside?"

Bowser growled and the heat from his face made the egg fry right away. "OF COURSE I AM! What else am I gonna do?"

Luigi began to recount a list. "Terrorize everyone around you, steal stuff, send your army here, try something with the princess, eat all of the food..." He dropped his hands. "I'm just saying, It's all been downhill since that power shot of yours during the game."

"Gah! Why bring that up? _Power shots were cheap anyway_. I wouldn't of needed it to win."

Peach shushed Bowser and strangely he listened. "This is getting off topic. We can check out this issue with the management, but in the meantime we cannot exactly leave you out here alone," she said, slowly gravitating Mario's way and into his arms. He held her stiffly as his eyes narrowed and his moustache twitched.

"Bowser. Why don't you stick with us then?"

Eyebrows all around raised at that but the hero's mind was made up. The closer to 'the enemy' the better.

…

Boo hid in the bathroom following that panic attack and stayed for several minutes. "Stupid stupid stupid.." they started again. Squeaks of shoes travel past the door and then stopped.

"Yes sixty at this point. Why?.."

Someone else mumbled something.

"Well, I just got the call and so we will do things different today- Hold on we have a code blue on floor three. You answer my calls only while I'm gone and if it is who I told you about just now, put on hold and tell Nass."

"Yes sir. I won't leave here. Even for lunch..."

…

A minute later. "Lunch break! Guess I'm leaving," the same voice as the last said.

The bathroom door slowly crept open. No one was in the halls, including the nurse. Boo wondered if they should sneak around and not feel useless, but the thought of the consequences shattered that fantasy. Then a phone vibrated on the medical cart. Boo stared at it for five seconds before something deep inside pushed them to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"This is Giant Land Hospital, bro. I just called my bank and the funds will totally be on your way tomorrow. You're gonna do what we agreed now, right?" Beeps and blips of a computer game was in the background along with some clacking of a typewriter.

"But that doesn't.. sound right," Boo thought out loud.

"… Transfer me to your bosses please," the person on the line hissed. "If you try something funny, believe me pal, I can find you and make your brain leak out of your skull into a puddle on the ground!"

With a loud shriek Boo dropped the phone and didn't remember much else after.

* * *

**To be continued…**

**Author note: This is the last chapter that resembles the old story. I go in some new directions from here.**

**Completed: 5/13- 5/18, 5/26/19, 5/31/19, edit 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 6/6, 6/10**

**Edit: 8/28/19**

**Fixes: 8/11/20**


	4. In which there is a mystery

**Mario and Bowser Frenemies Forever 2**

'**In which there is a mystery' (Chapter Four)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo. **

* * *

Kylie Koopa circled in red ink a particular spot on her huge roll out map of Toad Town where the tennis stadium was. It was about three cubicles long and the entire hallway wide.

"Don't mind me Steve," she mentioned, letting the tie wearing bullet bill by. Steve the Bullet Bill ran the press and kept it speedy with a respectable 150 wpm, but only on a specific typewriter. He hid in his office before Kylie could remember to ask him something. She decided to just visit the stadium and find clues on her own. How would she get past security? She she had one idea..

"Hey, wanna go back to the stadium with me? I'll let you snap the pictures!"

Susie gave a start, spinning away from the issued office computer and phone. "You want to what? I can't!"

No matter, Kylie thought, she could always get her scoop even working alone. However, something stopped her at the door, a mental prick. She rolled her eyes hard, the only person that could do that to her was not surprisingly also a 'prick'.

"Whaddya want, Mitch?" She forcibly swiveled Mitch's chair around to face her.

"I need to speak to you, babe. That new guy down there-"

"Susie? Pffft. It takes real levels of douche to talk trash about someone who hasn't even worked here for a day. Worry about yourself, greeney."

"I don't think you understand," he whispered. "Be careful at the stadium. That's.. all."

Kylie left. Meanwhile Mitch kept watch over Susie's space until the lunch bell rang. Everyone working made their way out in one big hungry group but when the dust settled, Susie was missing!

...

Many miles away most were blissfully unaware of Toad Town and more concerned about making sure their sunscreen was up to par against the intense rays of the tropical sun. Outside of Sirena Beach's Hotel Delfino, tourists were spread everywhere outdoors under umbrellas or on beach rugs to have a great time. No one paid attention to the dark blue shelled noki passing them by on the trail to the hotel. The most average tourist imaginable, he dark sunglasses and a red loose fitting Hawaiian shirt. He greeted the desk clerk inside with a crisp and pressed uniform.

The pianta quickly glanced over and stamp his documents. "Cool, no one ever has this crap filled out legibly. That's why I gots these, brah!" He pointed out the thick glasses on his nose. "Yours are neat too. Anyway, you're approved Mr. Jelectro. Take this card key."

"Merci." Jelectro went up the many stairs to his standard single bed room all the way at the top. It had all of the usual furnishings and a great view of the beach outside the window. Only something was off… The noki corrected the slightly crooked watercolor painting showing off Noki Bay. Very alluring, if only he'd ever visited before. They didn't have that sort of thing where he came from! He opened his suitcase up on the bed. He had flowery shirts of all colors, a wet suit, a wallet with a badge, and a silenced handgun.

He phone vibrated and he anwsered. "Agent 0064, status?"

"I am here safely. You?"

"Not good," Agent N, the voice on the other line said.

"Okay? What has happened so soon?" Jelectro replied with a more casual but alarmed change of tone.

"I got a niece sick back in the Mushroom Kingdom along with a string of others. HQ is still getting details. I don't mean to ruin your vacation though. You did just assist with a counter-terrorist operation a week ago so you deserve peace."

The line disconnected before enemy spies could trace the call. The noki thought it over while watching the beach and those on it from his vantage point with keen interest. He concluded that a week was plenty of time to rest as long as five hundred steps to the top floor weren't involved, that and he really wished the grounds keepers would stop picturing some of the beach goers without clothes.

"Brah with the sunglasses, leaving already?" the desk pianta asked the panting tourist returning with their luggage ready to go.

...

Five people reentered the hospital from the back which lead to the kitchen. At around lunch time now, the cooks were busily preparing meals for staff, patients, and guests.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't mind Bowser," Peach told the head chef, a toad with a brown twirly moustache and a tall white hat. He nodded but by now others who saw Bowser stomp inside started chain reaction of screaming, pots clanging, white flour clouding the air, and eggs cracking to the floor.

The chef clap two pans together for a louder clang. "Ze princess has spoken! Come, come!" He motioned the rest inside.

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi followed on the Koopa King's heels but Peach blocked the way out, staring pensively through the little round window and into the seating area that was steadily filling up. "Bad timing," she remarked. "There is no way we're getting Bowser through there without a mass hysteria."

Bowser gave out a haughty laugh. "That's your dumb toad subject's faults. Mine down home wouldn't bat an eye at something scary, strange, suspicious-"

"Gee that explains a lot," Yoshi cut in.

Mario stepped forward. "I'll stay here and watch Bowser then."

Luigi unfavorably glanced Bowser's and Mario's way. "I need to find Boo. Mario? I gotta admit, I was late meeting you here because I hired a reporter to get more information." He hoped to vex his brother a little and it worked, Mario's eyebrows not moving but the corners of his mouth shifting downwards to reveal his feelings.

"We'll deal with that later," Mario replied stiffly.

"I'll go with you to find Boo," Yoshi said, also to dissipate the tension. Thankfully Bowser was situation blind as always.

"Ya'll suck at planning but I'll hang out here for now!" Bowser announced, his butt seated on a table meant for food preparation and about to break it at that.

Peach went through the entire building on a linear path to visit Nass up front, passing by and through many sterile and brightly lit halls and feeling off. It was maybe even a little creepy. "Where is the Doctor Professor?" she asked.

Nass folded up freshly printed data sheets to add to many others meticulously organized in trays. "Wait at his office."

Peach power walked to his office. 'Dr. Prof. Koopa' was printed in white bold letters on the door of the room _in which there was a mystery_, but not the professor because the lights were out. "How wonderful.." She groaned, resisting the urge to childishly huff and puff.

"Don't they know I gotta bad leg? I don't care about the weight limit, I'm taking this," mumbled a whomp at the end of the hall, suited in a wrinkled white doctor's coat and trudging to the elevator.

Peach found herself going that direction, ignoring the voice in the back of her mind to just be a docile princess for once. The things you do for friends, she repeated, sprinting up steps to the third floor where she thought the doctor might be heading and where she knew were more offices. She got there and cautiously strolling down the seemingly deserted area, one room labeled 'Board room #6' stuck out because the lights were actually on. Then out from the door spilled an elderly toad woman, the whomp from before, a blue shy guy, a first responder, several junior assistants, and last Doctor Professor Koopa, slipping something into his pocket. She froze in place when everyone faced her equally surprised except for her old childhood doctor who wore a weak smile. With zero subtlety everyone but Doctor Professor distanced themselves or pretended to be busy doing other things, even whistling when they clearly didn't know how.

"Princess! What a fine young lady you are now. What do you need?"

Peach cocked an eyebrow subconsciously. "I didn't mean to.. interrupt anything but honestly I have so many questions!"

"You're worried about your friends I know. While the specialty tests cannot be rushed, don't you worry. Everyone will be fine 'Sweet Pea'." He gently put a hand on her shoulder.

Peach was almost mollified by that warm grandfatherly tone, but there was still that slightest chill to his touch. "Could we please at least see Toad and Daisy?"

Doctor Professor scanned a handheld pda. "In fifteen minutes. Is that alright? Good girl."

Peach walked away satisfied she'd gotten the upper hand. Maybe. While sanctioned under her name she regrettably had little clue of the inner workings of such a large place. Peach took the stairs again while the elevator door open and a nurse rushed out arms flailing. The toad girl resembling a shorter version of Nass T. tackled the koopa doctor and both collapsed.

"Sorry sorry," she pulled him up roughly. "I'm Emery T., roof top emergency services dudette. Did I miss the big vote?"

Doctor Professor slap away the girl's hands. "Your ballot wouldn't have counted anyway so get your butt to the cafeteria and away from here!"

A pipe above rattled, the main water line leading below. That was because someone was flushing over and over to make noise and deter a certain dinosaur from sticking around.

Back on ground level, Yoshi tapped on the stall door anyway. "Boo, I know you are in there. Luigi and I searched all over. He's getting worried." Yoshi heard Boo sniffing a lot. He leaned up against the door. "What's wrong?" he asked with a gentler tone.

"...Y-you wouldn't understand.. They never do."

"Boo. How old are you?.. Twenty-five you say? I was even younger than you when Yoshi's Island had its first disaster. Do you know some old friends of mine didn't make it through that horrific journey to stop Kamek?"

"..."

"I know. But I'd be messed up if I internalized everything I've ever been through. You don't need to do that to yourself either."

The stall door unlocked and crept open with one beady eye looking out. "But I feel like everyday something bad happens to me. Or I see things I can't deal with. I want to change it. I want to change myself- but I can't!"

Yoshi was about to speak when someone entered the restroom with a joyous shout. "Buddy! How'd I missed you here?" Before Boo could do much else, they were swallowed up by Luigi's hug. "Are you alright?" he asked, still squeezing.

"Yeah," Boo answered in an obviously phony way. Yoshi noticed and decided to not press it for now.

"Do you want to deliver ze koopasta?" the chef asked, poking Bowser with a rolling pin. The Koopa King had now waited about ten minutes in the kitchen forcing everyone to work around him. Now it was time to put out the food into the eating area and serve.

"DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT TO WORK HERE?" Bowser bellowed.

"Well, we might learn something out there. I'm sure there's a hair net your size." Mario picked up the large salad bin. "Besides, workers of the kitchen get their meals free!" he mentioned as he left.

Bowser's eyes opened wide. "Actually I mean- Get me a hair net now!" he growled to the chef.

...

A teenage koopaling with a blue mohawk yank off his headphones, springing up from the couch in the den of Bowser's Castle. "Hey, quit them downloads! You're making the internet connection too dang slow!" he yelled at the ocean princess koopaling on the floor stomach down playing the Playstation 4 a few feet away from the wide screen tv.

"Hold on Larry, gosh!" Wendy replied. "I'm trying to get my account set up."

"Can't you use Iggy's like you always do?"

"Now way. I have to download my personal games right now on my own account- Plus, I have privileges to use the tv and you don't!"

Larry groaned and moaned, and made whatever prepubescent and unimpressive growling noises he could to show his disdain. "Sooooo lame!" Wendy's phone and videogame privileges were rarely revoked unlike with her brethren so Larry was stuck with Kamek's dusty laptop where the plastic would start to melt if he played solitaire too long and the hinges were loose so it was constantly snapping down on his fingers.

His phone made a noise, then Wendy's. "Attention! All koopalings meet in 'the room', now!" the text said, sent to all of the koopalings at once.

"Nope!" Larry shut it off.

"Now you sound smart, sugar!" Wendy's bejeweled phone sat aside, she proceeded to download 'Princess Parlor 7'.

"Wonderful for _some_ of us to be here," Ludwig said as he sat on top an upside down mop bucket. The single light bulb above among cobwebs flickered as it always did. 'The room' was a broom closet the Koopalings used for secret meetings. The secret room used to be in a better more convenient place that didn't have a bad smell, like the kitchen, but that wasn't very secret of course. Cramped up with him in tight space were Roy, Lemmy, and Morton.

"I got koopaball practice today. Make it quick."

"I am not to be rushed!"

Roy shot up and gave his eldest brother a noogie, completely ruining his styled hair.

"Stop it stop it!" Ludwig pushed him away.

"But I need the time. I'm starting a book club, you know? I've been talking online and these people are really going to fund my Kickstarter for the eight hundredth edition of the 'Bestest, Most Superior, Most Exquisite Thesaurus Ever' with me as the writer, author, and wordsmith!" Morton explained in one breath.

"What are we even doing again?" Lemmy asked, twirling a broom handle between his fingers.

"We are here because of the plan!"

Morton snapped his fingers like he caught on. "...I…I… Oh no, I lost it. Can I have a hint?"

Ludwig sighed heavily. "Take a guess. Wait, do not. You might spread some of your stupid. Vater does not know at this moment what our plans are because that is how surprises work," he explained like teaching a kindergarten class.

Lemmy raised one hand while in the other was a cellphone with different colored buttons and a pink plastic shell. "So this means I can't text King Dad to tell him I broke another speed gymnastics record?"

"Lemmy, your phone is merely an effigy. You just turned twenty-two last month. I thought Vater was going to get you a real cellular phone?"

Lemmy revealed a real one that had a huge touch screen and was super expensive. The plastic wrap was still on it. "He did give me this one but it's boring. So can I text Dad or not? I'm still not getting the rules."

Ludwig felt his face get hot but he wasn't going to hurt anyone. Yet. "Call Vater then but be discreet!"

"Okay!" Lemmy happily pressed the speed dial for Bowser but only after he peeled that protective plastic off, savoring the moment. Maybe that was how they got people to buy new phones every year. It was just that satisfying to peel that new plastic!

...

Mario scooped up and served salad to various people in the open while Bowser was cooped up in a window out of direct view serving scoops of green peas to everyone who passed him with a tray. The Koopa King kept an eye on that pesky plumber a short distance away. His goofy movements were amusing to see along with that dumb smile he flashed at every visitor. Bowser had to admit it was slightly infectious but why he didn't know..

Bowser gave the next person, a toad girl, two giant helpings of peas. "I'm feeling generous. Get your vitamins in. Ha!"

Emery T. glanced up from her tray. "But hate peas uh, Bowser… BOWSER?!"

Bowser quickly scoot back farther in that window to hide his face. "Uh oh."

"No no no." Emery leaned in, even though it was holding up the line. "I'm like your biggest fan!"

"You? A fan?"

Emery raised her hidden gold Bowser brooch necklace that was tucked into her shirt. "See? Only you can save this hospital."

Someone tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me ma'am-"

"Go around me then!" she barked at the nurse behind her. "-But anyway something strange is going on. A bunch of people, including Toad and Daisy haven't gotten treatment since they got here! We've never done that plus I missed an important meeting so I don't know who to complain to! I know you're the best Bowser, can you help?"

"Slow down," Bowser said as he got a call on his busted up flip phone. He saw it was from home so he shoved the oversized serving spoon to the server besides him.

"I cannot sssserve your peassss and my fried mushroomsss at the sssame time," the fire snake complained. "I have no handsssssss!"

"Shut up. Hey, this is Bowser… Lemmy?"

"Hi King Dad," Lemmy greeted, bouncing down the castle's hallway with Ludwig following and trying to listen in.

"Keep it down!" Ludwig repeated. "And do not reveal-"

"I'm just calling because you didn't finish your tennis game and we were gonna inva- ack! Mmm mm mm!..."

Ludwig kept his arm around Lemmy's face. "Give me the phone. Hello, Vater?... Enjoying the city? I heard about the game canceling... Tough, correct?... Take your time. Kammy went shopping to purchase you some items you enjoy like-" He held the phone away to whisper in Lemmy's ear. "What does Vater like, aside from princesses?"

Lemmy, still being strangled shrugged at first but then remembered something. He motioned with two fingers someone running then jumping high over another object represented by this fist. Ludwig stared at that blankly, clearly not getting the picture.

"-Anyway whatever she will procure you'll enjoy once you get here at a time later than now," Ludwig continued.

Bowser stayed silent before exploding, "You talk too much! I ain't leaving anyway until either someone kicks me out or I find out what's wrong with my tennis rivals!" Bowser had by now walked outside around back with the tables again for privacy. "Now don't bother me again!"

Ludwig dropped his brother and tapped his foot. "You are prohibited from external communication until further notice. Understood?"

Lemmy bounced right back up without a scratch. "Yeah whatever. And why did you miss my clue? That other thing King Dad likes?"

"And what would that be?"

Lemmy spun his ball on one finger and rolled his eyes like it was a dumb question. "It's Mario, duh. The only other thing he's always thinking about..."

Bowser returned to his spot. He couldn't find weird toad fangirl and the crowd thinned out. Mildly irritated he ripped off the hair net and found a little note near his station with a number scribbled on it.

"Zat ist it for now!" the chef declared, hanging up his hat. "Good job."

"Yeah, especially since we didn't have many patient meals to prepare," said a hammer bro washing dishes.

"Let's meet around the side this time," Mario said to Bowser, surprising him. "Peach texted with some news."

Bowser tried to play it cool and obeyed. They walked outside and around to the side of the hospital where the Starman lane ran past it and everything was normal enough. Peach stood inconspicuously under a tree with her parasol up and as the hero and villain joined her Yoshi, Luigi, and Boo strolled up as well.

"Thanks for meeting me here, everyone. I spoke to the doctor and he had a perfectly reasonable explanation," Peach explained with an edge in her tone that hinted she really believed other wise.

"I'd love to hear it Peach," Mario said.

"They are running 'special' tests. We can walk in and visit right now… though," she paused with one hand on her chin. "Bowser is still an issue."

To their surprise Bowser didn't fuss. "Then I'll just stay outside 'Hotness'. Moustache, text me when you're in the room and I'll meet there and listen from the window outside. I'm good at stalking people from windows ya see."

"Ah hem. I do hope you practice that skill only at home," Peach said wryly. "Anyway we should get going. I don't like anything about this place."

Like a squadron Mario sent the five including Boo back through the front lobby and down that hall all over again. The blue shy guy sipping on a canned soft drink said nothing as they walked pass. Boo took one lingering glance backwards but kept on moving as they rushed forward to that room 444. Finally they made it and Mario stopped before the door.

"Alright. Finally some answers, right? Let's-a go!"

* * *

**To be Continued….**

**Author note: Well, things are becoming interesting aren't they?**

**Created: 5/18/19 – 5/21, 5/26, 5/31 edit 6/2, 6/3, 6/5, 6/7, 6/10, 7/1, 7/9**

**Page breaks 8/11/20**


	5. Ludwig's Schemes

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**Ludwig's Schemes (Chapter 5)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: A few touch ups**

* * *

Kylie Koopa got off the bus near the tennis stadium. There were yellow banners blocking the entrances but no police around, at least not anymore. She walked around cautiously, camera and grappling hook in hand. Maybe she'd try around back and away from the busy street just in case. The local police station was probably getting sick of her.

_Whoooooosh_…

Her spine was hit with the sensation of a frigid winter breeze growing in intensity. By the time she reached the coliseum like outer walls, her fingers were too stiff to untie her ropes. Giving up she dropped them to the ground and hugged her arms up, making a decision to take the direct route after all. The tunnel in was dark but she saw the light on the other side. She ran forward to something in the middle of the tennis court. Trash and other items were discarded all around, including an orange flowery hair band.

Kylie picked it up and studied it before seeing a shadow move in the corner of her eye. She whipped back around her found nothing. She then checked the locker rooms. The first was dark inside was faintly musty but also empty aside from something charred up in the center. She reasoned that was the one Bowser used given the Koopa King's known tendencies so she checked the other locker room to find it locked. Light was creeping out from its bottom but that was as far as she could theorize. With other clues picked over she was going call it there, especially since she was now sweating, burning up with a heat inside and out and she wondered what was with the temperature changes. She thought she heard a bell chime and familiar voices some distance away and distorted while she hurriedly stumbled upon discarded Fungus Up soda cans. Feeling to muggy to think, she snapped a picture and retreated back to the exit before she passed out. The last thing she wanted was to do that in the middle of somewhere she shouldn't be.

...

Bowser had his back against the wall of the hospital under some shade. He kept his voice very low unnaturally while he dialed the number left on a note. "This is Bowser. Fangirl chick, right? I found your little love letter."

Stationed on the hospital's roof, Emery covered her mouth as she squealed. "It's really you again!"

"Listen, you might can help me but.. hmm I just can't see a toad as so loyal.."

"What?! I totally am!" She glanced over her shoulder for security cameras. "I've, like, been a fan since forever. Before my mom took permanent night shifts she would tell me scary stories about you but I was never scared. I even made my own stories. I'm totally a social outcast because of it… Oh and because I don't mind seeing blood and guts and stuff.. but I'm sure it's mostly the Bowser thing why people don't like me. So what do you need me to- uh hello?"

Bowser continued laughing hard. "Just help me get to the bottom of what's going on quicker. You had something about ya, I could tell you were different than most dumb toads. I think you could help after all. Ha!"

Emery checked her back again. "I totally can! I think I still have the number of an old classmate who's with a team that does some things- Uh oh gotta go!" She hid her things away and got into proper position as she spotted a helicopter approaching for landing.

Bowser hung up on his end, eyes still watery from his guffaws when he found a text from 'Plumber Breath' waiting for him… He wondered what Mario had him labeled as in his contacts. Oh whatever. Via the text he learned where room 444 was and found it, putting his ear against the window with blinds blocking a view in. There was talking inside..

"This is it? And what are you doing in here?" This was Mario, he knows.

"Just checking records," replies someone unfamiliar with a low gravely voice, likely literally. Likely a whomp or other rock baddie species.

"Well it's good you're here isn't it? What's wrong, nurse?" Luigi's unmistakable voice asks.

"Prognosis unknown. I will be leaving." The doctor shuffles away with heavy footsteps.

"Oh man! Bro, get a look at this. They are green! Aww..." The bed squeaks as if someone is leaning on the edge. Luigi probably.

"Is t-that bad?" a new soft spoken person asks. It seemed to Bowser like that boo diddly 'loser' tag-along.

"I'd say so since they certainly weren't during the game. I- I mean I would know from the umpire position!" That is Peach for sure nearest to the window. If only he had a visual from the rear, Bowser thought with a dark chuckle. He tapped lightly on the window to capture their attention, not really sure why he'd hesitated that long. Bowser didn't know what he thought he'd glean from eavesdropping the Mario brats. Even if he heard something bad said against him it's not like he'd care, he reassured himself.

Shortly the window and the blinds slid up just few inches for him, courtesy of Mario. Bowser could now see Toad and Daisy on beds with an iv system hooked to them along with beeping computers. Their skin had a pale green hue. Luigi was clutching on the ends of Daisy's bed with Boo right behind him. Yoshi was silently watching something on their monitors and Peach's reaction was hidden by facing the other way.

"I'm doing something about this right now. 'Prognosis unknown' my royal pedicured feet! They've had ample time to do something!" she said, facing Mario. The plumber seemed wound up to reply when Bowser cut him off.

"I like that new attitude 'Hotness'!" Bowser was still eyeing Peach's backside when suddenly the window shut and nearly took off his claws with it.

Inside the room, Mario sheepishly spun back around after ridding everyone of that nuisance. "Sorry. Are all for shutting this place down? Uh, perfect!"

"W-wait...I heard something on the phone."

Everyone turned to Boo. "You mean on the internet?" Luigi asked.

After gulping Boo shook their head. "Not a smart phone, the hospital's phone. While I was hiding some doctors were talking. They said about sixty are sick right now in this building and then one of their phones on the wall just rung and no one was around and and- Oh don't let anyone know I answered! Some other hospital is paying this one to do something really weird and usual!" Shivering, Boo backed themselves in a corner.

"As if we didn't have enough reasons to take control," Peach held the handle to the door. "As the princess this place will listen to me from now on-" She swung it open.

"Visiting time over!" Announced the blue shy cheekily, Azul as his name badge stated, standing in the door way.

Peach and everyone else brushed past the nurse, ignoring him completely.

Azul panicked and followed, trying to keep up and wave them down. "Guys! I mean it! Doctor Professor Koopa is the new leader as of thirty minutes ago! Princess, you don't control anything any more!"

Peach froze and everyone ran into her from behind. "What did you say?!"

...

In Dark Land Tuesdays were unfavorable and inconvenient for even the locals as storms wiped out visibility even in the nicer areas like Neo Bowser City. Bowser Castle wasn't there however, it was just in World 8 and it wasn't Tuesday but instead a certain magikoopa's shopping day, a day that could be any day of the week she managed to sneak the keys away from Kamek. An enormous dust cloud shot into the sky after an aircraft crash landed behind the castle with a rumble felt for miles. Most of the koopalings were in the castle's spacious den when it happened goofing off. Larry yanked off his headphones again and his light blue eyes scanned the room for the most likely culprit.

"Sis! That's too much bass from the stereo. I felt like the whole freaking ground was like, shaking, which would usually be cool but not with your trashy-"

Wendy flung an extra controller at him without taking her attention off the dating sim she played on the television. "Not me! It was probably Morton's horrible ring tone from DJ Drybone5 or somebody."

"I believe you are false, wrong, inaccurate as I changed it to this!" Morton played the new tune that had an even more grating beat.

Lemmy sat in the corner building an impressive doll sized house of multicolored building blocks. He stopped and sniffed the air. "Anyone smell smoke?"

Iggy's head snap up from the green transparent gameboy it was buried in. "My radioactive microwave downstairs!... Wait no that blew up last week... Oh that reminds me, there's still a ton of extra sodas stacked up in the basement so I got bored and you should see the stack formations I've made with them like a convex icosahedron!"

"Shut up before I punch you," Roy mumbled from the couch, leaning all the way back lazily with his arms folded.

"Attention! Mandatory meeting in the back yard!" Ludwig group texted everyone, resulting in a half dozen phones going off at once. There was some of everything, techno songs, rap songs, trap songs, and a simple bell because one of them were basic..

Larry silenced his first. "Crap, I think we all gotta do what it says or Luddy will get us triple grounded." The other Koopalings dismissed Larry and went back to what they were doing except his sister.

Wendy paused the game and rolled her eyes. "Luddy IS a tattle tell. Listen to little runt just this once."

"Thanks sis!… Hey!" Larry retorted as everyone dragged their feet out the room and left him behind. "And wait for meeeeee!"

Koopa Airships were nearly indestructible but the Earth not so much. In the barren backyard typically used for mass enemy formation training, the family's one really good airship was half way sunk into the ground creating a crater. Tall red dirt mounds were littered everywhere and cracks were forming in the dry desert like soil. Despite all of that, Kammy Koopa walked away from it like nothing had happened, arms full of shopping bags.

"Dearies, I got something for yoooooou!" Kammy sang, heading towards the koopalings.

Everyone couldn't help but to cheer. Their father and Kamek rarely got them gifts but Kammy on the other hand? Of course they were frequently odd gifts but something nonetheless. Meanwhile a particularly Ludwig sized dirt mound started to jiggle. It had been there all along unoticed. Some bloodshot eyes appeared from it, next a red hot face emerged, then the rest of the body, fists balled and shaking.

"What in Eldstar's name is wrong with you crazy woman?!" Ludwig screamed, making everyone silent.

Kammy's little head poke around the stacks of shopping bags. "You know how I have lil problem reaching the break pedal, ee hee hee! Take this and chill out, boy!" She tossed a yellow Banana Bird Republic bag full of hair spray his way.

"I'm totes jealous," Wendy muttered, giving Ludwig the stink eye.

"But you're bald... Ouch you little-" Larry was jabbed by his sister.

"Focus! Everyone focus!" Ludwig snap his fingers. "Time?"

Lemmy checked his artsy 'wrist watch'. "There's been exactly zero minutes and no seconds since we've been standing here."

"Lemmy, your watch is drawn on your wrist with crayon. Hey, I should invent a watch that can freeze time like yours!" Iggy said, rubbing his hands together as he got unfortunate ideas.

Ludwig put snobbishness aside and resorted to checking his phone for the time then craned his neck back, facing the sky as he bellowed, "Curses! We are massively delayed. Blast it!" He dashed inside the airship so fast Kammy spun in place and flung the rest of the bags. Makeup, a new broom, granny clothes, old people knickknacks, as seen on tv products, and flat walking shoes flew everywhere. Ludwig ran right back out, using the black blazer he wore to cover his mouth from dust. "Good *cough* news."

"I can go back to bed, snooze, slumber?" Morton asked.

Ludwig called someone shockingly to the family since the commander had no friends, girlfriend, or social life. "Hello, underling?... It's Prince Ludwig to you, not 'bro'!...I accept that apology now listen, Bowser is in the city so keep it that way while we handle this set back... Yes you can. I know of your escapades in this castle..."

"Underling?" Iggy mused, the first to dare speak up. "Oh that guy! What about our other dudes, Sam and Slam with the delivery trucks this morning? I bet they quit early arguing over something like always, hehe!"

Ludwig hung up. "What about them? For now we need to excavate our means of transport!"

Wendy scoffed with her nose aimed high. "Don't we have like, soldiers for this?"

"But work is fun," Lemmy said.

"No one listen to Lemmy!" Iggy waved his arms around. "I can't mess up my video-game playing hands!"

"ENOUGH! Here's a wise lesson I was taught: Physical training builds character." Ludwig dropped a pile of shovels at their feet with a smirk. "No one reenters the castle until then!"

Everyone scrambled to dig up their airship, including Larry who grumbled the entire time. Why did he have to be forced to take part in another one of _Ludwig'__s__ scheme__s_? He didn't even want to be a villain when he got out of high school...

...

Mitch's Lexus, a black sedan he'd owned for five years now and spotless, came to a stop at Starman Lane's many red lights. He had in his lap a rolled up magazine from the movie star K. Kool Koopa he was to interview later and many other appointments so he needed to hurry back and look presentable. The glove compartment was unsuccessfully ravaged for more facial tissues and aspirin for his searing headache. He hoped he could make it to the press before he stained his suit with the nose bleed he got from successfully deterring that creep at the stadium away from Kylie Koopa. The light changed green so he mashed that pedal. Traffic was thin expect for a bus on the opposite side farther down.

_Ding ding ding._

That noise. It was that creep again! His attention darted back to the road in time to see a speeding mushroom bus veering into his lane head on and there was nowhere to go. Before he had time to dread even, the vehicles collided and his car crumpled, the frame warping and compressing, and tiny shards of glass from the windshield spraying him. The driver of the public transportation vehicle never let go of the gas, instead limp and deceased before the crash ever happened. The ghost bus kept rolling down the street while the Lexus was slung into an empty grass field off the road. Only then did the airbag deploy with a weak sounding poof. Mitch was conscious just enough to realize that he could neither move nor scream...

The first person to notice the horrific accident was koopa on an afternoon jog. Around this block he always exercised and the usual excitement never toppled bad street performers dizzy dancing. Jogging in place he started to call emergency services when he was whacked with a tennis racket, a green Bowser racket a number of people might have caught a glimpse of at a certain tennis game. Knocked out the fitness junkie fell at the feet of a dark looming figure with no feet at all. Surveying the accident scene the attacker's eyes squint slightly due to astigmatism while their lips curled upwards in satisfaction.

"That'll teach you to follow me around, bro," the person softly said into Mitch's driver window. Then they vanished like the boo they were…

...

Mario slammed his hands down at Nass's desk making the entire hospital lobby get silent. A dozen eyes were now on him and crew and hoping to use that to his favor he became loud and dramatic. "We know others are sick like our friends! We know you've changed leaderships! You're going to tell us what's going on!"

Nass stared blankly before shooting up form her chair. "Don't complain to me!" she belted. "Talk to Doctor Professor for crying out loud!" She pressed a button over and over but no one was responding.

"Are these guests giving you problems?" asked the whomp doctor in passing to Nass T.

"You ain't seen problems yet!" Bowser pushed open the doors and stomped inside to make many gasp.

"This is getting out of control.." Peach held her temple. If only she could just vanish away from this madness. Boo could actually do that, but they were petrified beyond movement.

"Why are you up here Terrace? But since you are, please escort these people out!" Nass ordered.

Dr. Terrace shrugged. "Right now? With my knees? Ha! Oh, and the health inspectors are right about.."

Someone else burst through the doors, strong enough to knock Bowser out of the way. "Dis is Jimmy M. of the Mushroom Kingdom Disease Control Unit!" announced the short monty mole grandly. He wore a bright yellow hazmat like plastic suit and he scurried to the front desk very quickly to dig into their business.

"Who sent you here?!" the head nurse gasp as James dug into all of her files and flung them high in the air.

The mole whistled loudly, finding what he wanted. "Dis is it, boys!"

This prompted three others to rush in against the traffic of the lobby guests they'd scared away, a mega goomba, a koopa paratroopa, and a wiggler. They split up and went down all of the halls banging on doors and disturbing the peace. Every nurse and patient that could scrambled out the doors during the emergency. Mario got separated from Peach first then he lost Luigi then Yoshi when the wave of the evacuating people finally swallowed him and the world went from black to blue because he was staring at the partially cloudy sky in the parking lot outside the hospital where the crowd left him. Mario leaned up. Everyone else was displaced in the yard and a huge truck with 'MKDCU' was parked in front of the entrance. On autopilot he ran that way just in time to catch those health inspectors again, already wheeling patients out. There was a yoshi, a koopa, then a toad- Toad Toad and a girl- Daisy!

"Wait!" Mario shouted but the snifit driving the truck slam on the gas. The car sped off into the distance with his friends. He watched it down the road in disbelief.

"Uh, plumber… We gotta find our tennis rivals!"It almost seemed like Bowser seemed to almost say more but Mario had no time to read into that.

"You think?!" Mario faced his rival. Bowser just shrugged.

Six people regrouped at Club 64, a landmark diner most Toad Town residence knew well for his homely atmosphere. It especially made it stand out to sleeker and larger but less cozy competitors, like Club Gamecube across the street. Mario ordered a piece of toast for everyone at the round table in the front. The mood was predictably sour, zapping most appetite anyway. The spinning ceiling fans purred on the hot day and that was mostly the only sound heard, Bowser being there scaring everyone else out. Yoshi's attention remained on the bulky old television screens usually set to closed caption only, but there was no report of the hospital incident in the mix of mundane miscellaneous news and toad fashions...

"Yoshi, what do you think?" Mario asked him.

Yoshi slid away his juice. "Too early to say."

"It ain't that complicated. I know exactly who did it," Bowser explained all important like.

"You _do_?" Peach said skeptically.

"Themselves, or Toad and Daisy I mean. Yep. Afraid to face me in my prime they force a reschedule. Do ya read flower chick's profile? It's all over Daisy's Facebook wall that she didn't want to play today."

"So they stage their own fall out? That's ridiculous. Bowser, if you're not going to help leave!" Luigi pointed out the door, glaring at Bowser who wore a little smirk but didn't move in his silent dare. Luigi's eyes then wandered to Mario subconsciously for support. Mario seemed to shrink a little under that gaze, almost unheard of the younger brother thought. Then again Mario was always awkward for no reason when Bowser was in company but they weren't fighting. What was typical of Mario however was the ability to mask over that vulnerability in an instant.

"Bowser. We don't need you anymore. Get out," Mario told Bowser plainly.

Some annoyance or anger, no one was sure, flashed over Bowser before he stood up abruptly. "Smell ya later then, losers." He stomped out, letting the chair fall over.

Peach wrinkled her nose while Bowser was leaving. "Thank the stars.." She stood up and straightened out her clothes. "I am not abandoning this situation or anything but I should return to the castle briefly, assuming I have not been 'voted out' there also," she said with hints of bitterness at the end.

Mario's arm reached for hers. "I'll escort you. The rest of you head back to the hospital for clues." He escaped with her before Luigi could question anything else.

...

Kylie Koopa arrived back at the Mushroom Press well past lunch and returned to her desk, dropping her notebook flat with a plop. Immediately something hit her, she spun around to realize that Mitch was missing from his cubical. He rarely left even for his lunch, even more alarming she found when his lunch box was still under his table with sandwiches in it.

Kylie came up to the front desk. "Jessie, have ya heard from that ol' Mitch since lunch? Just curious."

The desk lady shook her head so Kylie returned to her space. She had to work with Luigi's eyewitness account and the two cans Toad and Daisy might have drank before the game. She knew from past work that Fungus Up was hardly sold anymore but a quick search on the Toad Town message boards had a post marked around seven that morning saying that a stand of Fungus Up cans appeared in the park as a sort of promotion. It was up for grabs. What did her old reports say on that company? Some of Kylie's files were purged a few years ago in the process of relocating but maybe Mitch still had them. -If he was still around…

Feeling she was in a bind, she scraped up what she could. One message purportedly stated that a truck dropped them off and had much more in the back but the two drivers began discussing some sort of tabletop game. Next they were speedily driving off leaving only one bunch. Another said that someone added the promotional material later. Neither had images to back anything up, assuming it even transpired as they claimed. Kylie would contact Luigi for an update even if she had nothing definitive to prove. Her office phone rung for a moment while someone entered the press for a paper.

"Right here, sir," Kylie heard Jesse say a distance away. She idly watched the noki in a Hawaiian shirt and black sunglasses scan the newspaper nearly as tall as him and nod his head.

"Didn't see your stories?"

The noki rolled it up under his arm and handed over the coins. "No, merci." Kylie eyed him out the door as he approached an Aston Mushroom car, a super expensive 'thang' as she'd put it, at a parking meter. Had to be a tourist, she thought.

* * *

**To be continued:**

**Author note: Yeah a little short, but..**

**Created: 5/18/19 -5/26, 5/31, 6/1, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 6/10, 6/13**

**More edits: 6/20/19, 7/1, 7/9, 7/17. **

**Again: 8/4/20**


	6. A soggy high heel

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**A soggy high heel (Chapter 6)**

**Disclaimer: Mario=Nintendo Me=not much**

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this without Mario?"

"Of course," says the plumber hopping over the fence with ease, entering a protected 'employees only' area. Their third companion after a brief hesitation phases through the barrier like thin air. Last the dinosaur rolls his eyes and hops over as well with a well timed flutter jump.

"We could have at least chosen a less blatant way," Yoshi admits, crouched near the partially obscured back doors with the other two like burglars.

Luigi stands up then. "That's too bad because we have to do something and not just because Mario suggested we do."

Yoshi sees the hurt flash on his features and takes a different route. "Just message him that we couldn't find a safe way."

Luigi shakes his head quickly. "I'm afraid to text anything after this morning. Next I might end up sending all of my friends my private pictures of tropical beaches!"

Yoshi stares at him funny, wondering it that's a euphemism. "Never mind. I have an idea. A safe one."

Boo silently thanks Eldstar for that.

Yoshi turns to Boo. "But we'll need you."

Boo retracts that.

Nass is back at her desk tending to her data sheets. Mushroom Kingdom hospital's front lobby is as straightened up as they can manage but the automatic door is a casualty, broken and permanently stuck wide open. Leaves and dust from outside piles up to the staff's annoyance so Doctor Professor Koopa has just called in an intern from their sister hospital in Southern Mushroom Kingdom to help with clean up.

"Howdy. It's me," greets the mature koopa paratroopa in blue janitor outfit holding a mop bucket. A grey pony tail reaches his back.

"Probabilly Koopa?"

"Yup." Unceremoniously he begins tidying up the dust without further instructions. Nass wonders if she should say anything but decides not to as a little boo comes in.

"Nurse I'm not feeling well.." Boo mumbles. Very little of the performance is an act. The jittering, shortness of breath, and general look of unwellness is very typical.

Nass takes one look at their sad state and not even her usual apathy prevents her from pressing the intercom. Right away an older toad woman with a pink outfit, Mariam, arrives from the right wing. "This way deary."

Boo follows down those cold halls, hoping no one recognizes them when someone speaks.

"_Run! Get your friends away from here too!_"

Boo stops, teeth chattering. The nurse turns back. "Everything fine?"

"_Run, dude! Actually, snatch the red letter on Nass's desk __since __she's not there anymore__, then run! Do it!_" It's a deep and soothing tone yet still frightening with no apparent source.

Boo struggles to obey the voice, stumbling back to the lobby. The red envelope is there on the desk miraculously. They pick it it up and scan it over.

_From: Jimmy M. of Mushroom Kingdom Disease Control Unit in response of an anonymous tip to survey Mushroom Kingdom Hospital East. In accordance to protocol 347a we counted about one-hundred violations and we evacuated five patients that were turning green. By the way, you'll be getting our bill soon._

"Signed: James Monty, Richard Goomba, Parabilly Koopa, Wiggletron Berry, Sebastian Bullet?" Boo reads out loud.

The janitor leans up from vigorous mopping he did near the tables. "That knuckle head younger brother of mine was here? That 'splains it.."

Boo slowly faces the paratroopa. "Y-you know them?"

"Yup. Home base just outta city limits. They raise ruckus on purpose then wheel the sick to that Toadley Clinic in town. Mosey on out youngin 'cause here comes the watch dogs!"

Nass and a few others are coming back around the corner. With the note held tight to their chest Boo gets out of there just in time. With a start, Nass scoops up the MKDCU's empty envelope from the floor.

"How did this get off of my desk and where is the letter?" she pointedly asks the janitor.

"Wind musta blew it away," Probabilly answers, seemingly unbothered.

Doctor Professor snatches it out of her hands and rips it up. "It doesn't matter what happened because I know who is to blame anyway. Okay? Now back to work. All of you!"

...

Boo ran out to Luigi and Yoshi. "They're at the T-toadley Clinic!" they squeaked while a noki who had just pulled up in a sports car walked past the trio. The stranger had a flat but curious face as he scurried by.

In walked Jelectro, taking in the scene of wet floor signs and bleach in the air. Nass had switched her front desk shift and now seated was Mariam in her pink spotted cap and matching nurse uniform.

"Welcome to MK Hospital. You look like a healthy young man," she spoke with an accent that seemed a little phony. The slight harshness of the consonant reminded him of Dark Land actually.

"Where is the information station? I'm not sick just a tourist," he replied, suppressing his own.

"From somewhere exotic?" she inquired with some mischievousness laced in. "Down the hall to the left."

He played along and went down that hall then diverted as soon as he wasn't being watched. He had on him a pseudo badge that could get him in some important places as soon as he knew where to actually go. All he knew was that Agent N's niece was somewhere inside. The visitor section rose nearly to the ceiling with colorful pamphlets showcasing the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding. 'Have dinner at the historic Club 64'. 'Come see the Southern hemisphere's famous yoshi wrangling!' 'Take a tour through Boo's Mansion if you dare!' 'Book a cruise to Isle Delfino', though Jelectro knew from just this morning that the beaches weren't quite so commodious and tranquil and devoid of screaming children like the images suggested.

"_Jelectro Bond. Come to room 26._"

The noki froze in his tracks, hands reaching to see if the earplugs were there.

"_Aww, you really think those things stop your powers? If you weren't so handsome I'd call you stupid."_

"Would you now?" Jelectro snarked out loud and not telepathically like he meant. The detective covered his mouth.

"_Just get to my room already._"

The noki debated running away and never returning. He'd do anything rather than deal with a person like that, but he had to get to the bottom of it all for Agent N's sake. Reluctantly he found his way to the message's origin slowly pushed open the door. Inside was a toad with a green cap under covers with his eyes shut. Bandages were all over his face and his monitors indicated steady heart rate and breathing.

"_Told you I don't bite__. __You know, I__'ve met a telepathic __whomp, a mouser, __not __a little n__oki," _he said without looking, or moving his mouth. "_Did you like S__i__rena Beach, French boy?_"

Trying to keep a stony composure Jelectro stood beside the bed, though inwardly he felt jitters all over. "What happened to you?"

"_Got hit by a bus. __For once__ I do something proactive for an old friend and- oh never mind, I'm not gonna complain.__ If you are wondering about __what's going on here__ it's horrible. Problem is only__ Theodore knows __the real details and __who the conspirator is __but __that wacko __can block me out __of his head__ somehow._"

"Who?"

"_Doctor Professor Koopa. __Just __focus on __this thug __that__ works for Bowser- the one who did this to me __and it'll all come together__. __Get to the press and get my stuff __some kinda way__ but don't tell Kylie __I'm on the mends__. __Here's some__ details about me if someone clocks you..__Now find__ my papers on 'chimes'-_"

With a grunt, Jelectro held the sides of his head as he unpleasantly got the large bundle of information hot wired straight to his brain. Feeling queasy and faint he fell backwards and into a recliner in the room, nearly knocking it over.

"Whoa! Sorry dude!" Mitch said out loud for the first time. "… I didn't realize you had that atrophy of the frontal lobe like-."

Jelectro blindly bolted out the patient room to be disoriented by horrible buzzing from a hundred distorted voices he couldn't tune out. Despite his best efforts as some sanity slipped back into him, splotches of red dripped onto the white tiles as he stumbled a few more steps into the lobby just time time to catch someone at the service desk, a dark boo with a decidedly thuggish aura.

"Ah, no dearie they aren't around anymore. Nope," the nurse told the boo, smiling but clearly intimidated.

"Alright…" he said sort of slick like. "You did not see me here."

"_I did not see you here_," the nurse droned back with a sudden vacant expression.

The boo floated right back out through the automatic doors and across the janitor stooping down near some tools he'd just used to repair it.

"Follow 'em." Probabilly said, inconspicuously watching the noki with a nose bleed.

Jelectro caught the boo jumping on an old dirt bike and putting off. He hopped in his own car and followed for a street before loosing the zippy and maneuverable motorbike. Eventually he had to give up and chase his next lead. There was no doubt about it however, that was the 'thug'.

...

The princess's shoes instead of being embedded in the usual plush sun pattern carpet were instead in a pool of shallow water, very clear and crisp with a hint of shamrock smell.

"It just blew up princess! The world exploded basically," Toadette explained, gesturing to the sky or ceiling rather, the only dry thing left.

Peach glanced all around somehow doubting that.

"Good thing I'm here then, right? I'll see what I can do by myself. Where did it start?" Mario asked the group of toads standing around in the water. There was Toadette, Yellow and Blue Toad, another toad holding a spear, a few others and Toadsworth in the background dragging water logged furniture from the inner rooms.

"The kitchen. The basement. Upstairs. Outside. Inside. I don't know I woke up underwater!" they all answered at once.

Mario felt his head spinning. "That can't be right!"

"Right or wrong what I have now is a flooded castle, sick friends, a backstabbing hospital, anxiety and a _soggy high heel_!" Peach exclaimed, finally unleashing her emotions and breaking down to cry.

"Don't feel bad, princess. Just be glad to be alive and healthy! Some people aren't!" the blue toad, Buckenberry said.

Peach's downcast expression softened. "Thank you dear- I-I suppose."

"I mean, because just a few streets away there was a horrible bus crash with one death and one serious injury. The dead guy's brain melted! I heard it went everywhere!" Buckenberry continued obliviously until Toadette jabbed him with her elbow hard to shut up.

"Where the chores at least completed this morning?" Peach nearly groaned. "The ones I post up very clearly?" She got blank stares from everyone and sighed. "One day I will hire someone competent. Like Captain Toad!"

"Princess.." Mario reached for her but she moved away.

"Not now, Mario." The frustrated princess wadded through the water to retreat into upper rooms. "Toad was competent but look at where he is now! If only a certain plumber's constant dangerous activities with dangerous people didn't lead accidents like this!"

"How is this my fault?" Mario yelled at the door shut in his face, confused as he was upset. He couldn't believe her attitude. There were only a handful of people that would bicker with the plumber since whether he wanted to admit it or not the general attitude of most in the Mushroom Kingdom was to worship the ground he stood on. Because of that even mild contention from friends had a tendency to stun him. Well Mario knew he deserved it. He was right at MK East yet he didn't get anything done for Toad or Daisy and the head staff there didn't seem to respect him and they all shared and accent- like they weren't from around the Mushroom Kingdom... Like Bowser! Was he involved after all? But nothing really pointed to that. He was getting the head spinning sensation again and let it go.

Mario did what he could for the next half hour, a pipe replacement here, some bolt tightening there, a lot of duct tape, working as quick as he could without getting sloppy. He did pride his plumbing work. Suddenly his phone rang, making him jump. It was from 'lil bro' as the call id stated. "Talk to me, Luigi."

"Actually this is Yoshi. Your brother handed me his phone so he could finally understand it so here's a status report. Luigi had all kinds of stuff going on, messages left and right, including one Kylie Koopa finding some Fungus Up cans. Know about that? She thinks Toad and or Daisy had them."

Mario scratched his head. "I don't recall if they did or not."

"Never mind that then. Big news: Toad and Daisy might be at the Toadley Clinic so can you meet us there?"

Mario held the phone upwards while basement water steadily rose to his knees. "Might be a moment. Do a guy a favor?"

"Can do old friend. We'll check it out-"

"And have you seen Bowser around?"

"No. Why?"

Mario paused.

Knowingly Yoshi continued, "We'll keep our eyes peeled though alright? Bye."

..

Luigi, Yoshi, and Boo have now walked to the Toadley Clinic, not far from the castle or hospital. They had to avoid Starman Lane due to the clean up and investigation still going on. Yoshi is especially disturbed by what reports on the Toad Town online message boards mention about the sole occupant in the bus apparently being deceased _before_ he veered into incoming traffic. The dinosaur tries to shake it off, to be strong. Now the mushroom shaped building is before them and he lets Luigi walk in first. The Toadley clinic has an area with seating and an intern waiting at the desk. The rest is walled off behind double doors.

"Welcome, do you have an appointment?" she asks right away, a younger toad woman with blonde medium length hair.

Luigi rushes to the desk. "No, not really."

"Well that'll be a problem-" she starts before a voice booms from behind those doors.

"Do I take patients without appointment? No I do not!"

Boo shrieks and hides behind Yoshi. Yoshi looks to Luigi then to the intern. "How long will it take to make one then? We just want to know if some friends are checked in here."

Luigi nods. "Toad Toad and Daisy Bloom. We think some health agents transferred them here."

The intern nodded back quickly. "James did send them here. In fact his crew just left for a late lunch. Did you have any questions?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with them?"

The intern plays with her pen. "...Maybe the doctor could explain." She presses a buzzer. "I'm sending them anyway!" she yells.

"Arrgh! Must I allow if you insist? I must. Come in!"

Cautiously the three enter those double doors where it is much darker. A large room has beds along with their friends and a few more on them. The titular doctor dressed in purple is on the other side of the area where a shrine of sorts is set up. In the middle of shelves of various herbs and powders is a table with a laptop on it. The wallpaper of that laptop is the round crystal.

"Can I answer anything? Yes I can. What do you inquire?"

Luigi steps up after gulping. "..What's wrong with Toad and Daisy?"

Dr. Toadley presses the internet browser icon. The answer appears on screen 'miraculously' and much more quicker and accurately than the doctors old method of supposedly knowing everything. "They have the Mushroom Flu and there is no cure on file and I have no idea how they and the other test subjects- ah hem patients got it-"

Yoshi and Boo gasps.

"-YET! But will I find it? Yes I will! I am currently working night and day doing nothing else but finding that cure!"

Peering at something, Luigi raises one finger. "Is that a computer game open?"

"Luigi!" Yoshi yells.

"I'm just saying!"

As they speak, Boo inches closer and closer to those beds, something beckoning them for a closer look. One is a red yoshi girl who seems to be a child laying back, skin pale and with a sicking green hue. The others are the same including Toad and Daisy in the far corner. Boo has no idea why they tried to be brave all a sudden. So panicked, they float past Yoshi and Luigi who calls out for them and out of the entire clinic.

...

"So you don't wanna this time?"

"Wanna hang out with you? No, weirdo," replied the first responder Dave, a handsome Boom Boom about three years Emery's senior who always wore an army jacket and got off from the helicopters with a smug laugh. He got the fly that thing all over so who blamed him?

Emery T. sighed and got back to work staring at the clouds.

"Miss Emery," said someone behind her. Doctor Professor Koopa arms crossed, stood there with a bored looking lakitu beside him. "Log out of your workstation."

Emery did as he said. "Am I taking another break?" she asked, walking down stairs and noting that the lakitu was taking her position. She was led all the way down to the doctor's office. Doctor Professor closed the door behind her with an ominous click.

"Are you aware of a certain Sebastian Bullet?"

Emery smiled weakly. "Maybe?"

Doctor Professor sat down at his oak desk, fingers clasped. "Then are you aware of how unscrupulous service reports harm this facility. Of course you are, smart girl."

"But I don't know about that other stuff." She shrugged.

Doctor Professor tilted his head down a little, smiling. "I am an old man you know that, but not a stupid one and I know how these doohickeys operate." He held up Emery's cellphone that she didn't even realize had been confiscated. "You are fired."

...

Bowser had one foot in the clown car that got him to the Mushroom Kingdom. He was just about to leave Toad Town for Dark Land and just let the entire tennis game go as a write off. It was almost disappointing. Almost. Someone called him and instantly he knew it wasn't his children or Kamek or his old lady Clawdia. _Especially_ not the later... "Yeah, this is Bowser… Oh fangirl chick again. What?"

"I got *sniff* like totally fired!" Emery explained, sitting on the sidewalk outside. She knew mother wasn't getting off work for a while or even acknowledge her termination so she was stranded for the umpteenth time in her life.

Bowser figured that. "Keep going gal."

"Like, can I work for you?"

Bowser paused for a minute. "I know I said I liked ya, but what will that do for me?"

"Lots of stuff! I'm a toad so like I can be within thirty meters of the princess and you can't, for starters."

Bowser gaped at the revelation. "Tell me where you are 'cause I'm picking you up!" The clown car's propellers soon made the vehicle soar. Wind and grass blew right into the eyes of the person whose motor bike was just pulling up. The biker beat a fist against the handle bar but then thought of a new plan so they revved up again and head towards Royal Raceway.

...

To forget that experience with Mitch Toad Jelectro decided to dive right into work. He returned to the Mushroom Press with a fool proof idea on how to walk in and get the items of that popular gossip writer, forty-one, 'single', living in a complex around Pleasant Path.. He kept reciting those facts, just in case he was quizzed.

"Nice to see you again," Jessie at the front desk greeted.

"Same. I need to pick up some items of Mitch Jamerson Toad. I'm actually his intern."

Jessie hummed with a thinly veiled spark of jealousy. "Interesting. I just thought he was lone wolf these days.. He's a local public figure and others try to steal his stories so you don't mind can you prove that you really know him?"

"He is forty-one, writes for the Mushroom Enquirer-"

"Other than what you can easily find on his website," Jesse laughed. "Something personal."

"Personal?..." Jelectro hesitated at the sole intimate detail he had to spout. "He has hanging in his bedroom behind the bed stand a life sized picture signed by celebrity Zip Toad."

The desk woman's face flushed. "You've been in his?- I knew he was a two timing little!- Ah hem." The human combed her hair back down that was standing on edge. "Go ahead..."

Jelectro quickly walked away from that disaster of a situation and proceeded to the empty cubical space that had Mitch's golden name plate on it. He dug into a cabinet full of manila folders labeled 'aliens', 'ufo', 'super abilities' 'the stars', etc and finally 'artifacts' which had a 'chimes' subfolder. So intently he searched he didn't notice someone standing right behind him.

"Excuse me, sir. What are you doing with his stuff?" Kylie asked.

Jelectro froze with the files in hand. "...I'm Mitch's intern?"

She stared at him hard then snapped her fingers. "Neat. He'd been weird lately so I can see him doing something he doesn't usually do like outsourcing his garbage. No offense."

Jelectro stiffly nodded. "I'm Jelectro and I'm not from around."

"Clearly by your peppiness. No offense again. Nice to meet ya." She shook his hand and he shook back, unaware until then that he was peppy apparently. "Where is he? Not to be nosy."

"He's taking an impromptu vacation and but wants an article on the hospital so I needed to pick things up for him."

"Well I'm investigating the same thing for the Mario bros but for the truth rather than gossip magazines. Okay, I'll stop teasing ya! I've been to the tennis stadium so I was going to visit the hospital their friends were said to be at."

"I think it's on some sort of lock down but I don't really know how that works," he mentioned, belying his understanding of the situation.

"Darn. I have contact with Luigi so maybe lets just get to the princess." She stood up with shoulder bag over her shell, patiently waiting for the 'intern's' response. "I can't believe I'm working with a Mitch associate, but there's something about this case I feel I'm missing. Something big. You know what I mean?"

Jelectro remained stuck in place, feeling a disturbance from far off. "I know exactly what you mean."

...

Someone far away there was a digital clock on the wall with the red LEDs being the only source of light in the room as a dark figure observed intensely. Without warning the digit went down from 12:00 to 11:59. It was time to make a move. One person whispered into the ear of another and another. Soon the entire population of the nearly ancient building in the desert knew but they chose to not let the secret slip yet...

* * *

**To be continued:**

**Author note: The narrative tense shifts were intentional. Just a style I wanted to play with along with the general flow of the scenes. I probably won't return to it though. Also, things are adding up, stay tuned..**

**Created: 5/24/19, 5/25, 5/27, 5/29, 6/1, 6/2, 6/3, 6/5, 6/10, 6/13, 6/14**

**Edits: 6/20/19, 6/29, 7/1, 7/30**

**More: 8/4/20**


	7. No courage, nerves, or pronouns

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**No courage, nerves, or pronouns (Chapter 7)**

**Disclaimer: Mario=Nintendo Me=still not much**

**Author note: This is back. As of the last edit date at the bottom here I've nearly completed this entire thing so expect for frequent uploads. Check my profile for other updates.**

* * *

Mario dropped the wrench. It landed with a soft sounding clink on tiled floors in need of a good mopping and full of boot prints. The water was drained and he could lean up straight again away from under the cabinets and take a breather.

"Great job saving us from killing our selves, you know like usual," said the blue toad observing closely the job. Buckenberry known for volunteering for NSMB was always breathing down his neck unless Luigi was with him to shoo him away.

The tool slipped again, great. "What do you want, Cool Blue?"

"Luigi called the castle. Mr. Toad and Princess Daisy have the Mushroom Flu. Mario? Mario, wait!"

Mario tumbled out of those cabinets and out of the kitchen looking for Peach. Many toads were cleaning up wet floors and furniture but the woman he sought wasn't one of them. "Mr. Toadsworth, have you seen the princess?" he asked, spotting the old mushroom gazing out the open doors.

Toadsworth tapped his cane with a downward face. "I tried to stop her, Master Mario. She wanted to revisit that hospital of doom for round two and I would have accompanied her but dear me, I am too traumatized by that accident that happened around here-"

"She didn't even take her car?" Mario checked outside with mixture of irritation and concern. Peach's pink Birthday Girl kart was untouched in the castle lot. He slapped his forehead and sprinted away from the castle with no explanation given.

Toadsworth watched and waited and waited some more, eyelids drooping lower. He asked some one else to guard the door while he left to make some hot tea for concentration. Unfortunately no one did, the typical leniency in the castle. Later someone rapped on the door and the toads always paid attention to that in expectation of the pizza guy or a gift from one of the princess's admirers that they'd get to dig into first. Or something from Amazon.

"Hey. What's up?" The dark boo smiled grotesquely with jagged teeth flashing while he squinted at the castle's address posted up in a bold but regal font. There wasn't an obvious way he'd arrived, no car or taxi or anything.

"OOOOO-k.. You don't have pizza, or a Prime shipment so.." Thomas replied with the same excitement he had when doing science homework, so none. He tried to shut the door, but the visitor held it open with some surprising strength.

"Listen to this. I got a rare thing." The boo presented with his other hand a can of soda that was dented but unopened, Fungus Up.

"Uhhhh whatever..." Thomas groaned, letting him in flippantly.

"Thanks bro. Peach collects memorabilia doesn't she? And Mario's here too right?" The dark boo brushed past him into lobby, his expression flattening impressively when his gaze raised at the ceiling. "...They ain't here."

"Excuse me, we didn't order anything so who are you?" Toadette appeared in the dark boo's way when he lowered his head.

"He collects stuff… maybe..." Thomas shrugged as their visitor began to slip out the castle.

"Stop that guy! He's totally suspicious!" Toadette yelled like a siren.

Buckenberry came out of nowhere and hurled himself towards the stranger. In a ball both tumbled right out the door and flat onto the stone moat. The boo then punched the blue toad in the face before knocking him off.

"Piss off," the boo spat, dragging himself up.

Buckenberry ignored the busted lip and jumped up to charge again. The boo raised his arm and something invisible 'hit' Buckenberry. His world spun like a vortex so he missed striking anyone at all, instead launching himself over the railing to splash into the clear water below. Peach's toads weren't obsequious, or the best at jumping in platform games, or the best at cleaning, but they could do a thing or two in numbers. Stirred by the efforts of the blue toad, Toadette, Thomas, a toad who ran the castle's visitor podium, Yellow Toad known also as Alagold, the gardener with a hoe, a cook with a metal pan, and more poured from the doors. The dark boo ran for it. He dragged a bike hidden off the side with him trying to crank it up when he realized someone was helping him roll it. He whipped around to face Alagold.

"Sweeet, ride brah! What's your name?"

"Bro, I say 'bro'. Not you, bro!"

"Your name is 'Brah'?" Alagold's eye began to twitch as he detected an item, his special gift he used a lot in NSMB. He reached into a compartment on the bike and took out a Dark Land identification. "No, your name is Z-"

"Gimme that back!" 'Z' yelled in his face.

He raised an arm again and sent an intangible biology tampering wave slicing through Alagold. Instantly he seized up before stiffly collapsing on the road while Z moved on, not allowed to celebrate that victory because Thomas's tossed spear nearly impaled him while the others threw rocks that pelted him relentlessly. The motorbike wasn't willing to go more than a single mile per hour. The few toads became a monstrous regiment close to overtaking Z. He dropped his motorbike all together and nerves getting the best of the young boo, he did something drastic.

Trying to ignore the ruckus outside, Toadsworth blew over the hot ceramic cup of Herb Tea while seated on a recliner. He was up stairs in his room, his sanctuary at times. Before taking the first sip, a terrible rumble shook the cup out of his hand and all over his lap. He yelp as his shelves rattled and many heavy books were jostled. The entire castle vibrated like a rocket ready for lift off. He sprung up and managed to a window. Outside was only pure black abyss that Toadsworth peered into. A vision was forced upon him, that of a single five pointed object hanging above barren flattened land. He screamed until he felt his lungs giving out.

...

Boo heard their name being called desperately when Luigi and Yoshi poked their heads into Club Gamecube, Club 64's competitor established in 2001. They wanted to respond but.. didn't. Boo slapped themselves in the forehead again. "Why can't you just do something, Boo? Why?" When not pathetically tagging along with someone more important all they had was a lame part time job at a diner in Forever Forest, a Youtube channel no one watched but their mother, _no courage, nerves, __or__ pronouns_. Not all of that was bad but still they were fully convinced they were useless.

"Give a round of applause for Dolphin!" the manager said on stage, introducing a comedian. The lights went dim as some people were loudly entering the restaurant.

"I just want a Chuckola cola, the Japanese version. Mom never let me do this."

"I ain't her am I so you'll get it! Waiter?! We need service!"

Boo peered over a banister that separated the dining area from the front to see Bowser and a toad girl at the take out desk. Emery got her beverage after Bowser showing his id card for her, and they left. Two minutes later, tugged along into action by some part of themselves unknown, Boo was zipping between alleys following the slow but steady Clown Car in the air. Boo weaved through more people on sidewalks and narrowly avoided traffic on streets.

In the air, Emery belched. "Awesome! Uh, what to do with-"

"Toss the bottle over the side. It ain't littering, it's a custom where I'm from."

Boo then watched as something glistening in the sky fell over the edge and whacked them in their forehead. The little boo collapsed in the middle of Toad Town park.

...

A silver Aston Mushroom continued its steady pace towards Peach's Castle, each mile tense for the noki driver within. Would the koopa passenger stop staring at him? If Kylie Koopa made the mistake of leaning over him the right way, easily due to his height, she might catch a glimpse of what was behind his sunglasses and he couldn't have that.

"Can you read this?" he asked, handing her Mitch's file to direct her attention away.

Kylie opened it up in her lap. "An old case study on ancient artifacts. You interested in something specific?"

"Something capable of a 'chime'?"

"That narrows it down… Off topic but can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"I know species names are a hit these days but how did you end up being called Jelectro when you're a noki?"

Before he could answer he slammed the breaks at spotting displaced toads on the road resulting in papers flying all over the car. Just across the bridge of Royal Raceway Peach's Castle suspended a few hundred meters in the sky on top of a pure black and flatly textured disc. Faintly yellow hologram like musical notes drizzled underneath like a rain shower. Thy collectively jumped went someone banged driver's window. It was Buckenberry still soggy and wet. Jelectro rolled it down.

"Finally someone drives down this road! Get Mario's help!"

Kylie Koopa jumped out of the car. "What the crap?! Where's the princess?"

"She's not in," Toadette explained quietly. The shock was still setting in her and others stranded about.

"But Mr. Toadsworth was inside when that freak with the bell did this. He screwed up Gold too!" Cool Blue warned, referring to someone a little farther back laying face down in the grass.

Jelectro investigated the yellow toad. Special training taking over, Jelectro lifted a closed eyelid to discover Alagold's clouded over irises. With a start he bolted back to his car and in the drivers seat, hyperventilating at the realization that the person he was after was like Mitch, like _him__self_!

"Bond! Or Jelectro, whatever you call yourself! Check this out!"

He craned his neck that way but remain planted in the car. Kylie was snapping pictures of an old bike, now serious and acute. "You know something real strange? I've saw this bike parked at the Mushroom Press this morning. Yeah I'm sure it was. Someone give me the straight dope on this guy."

"A thug. A dark boo. A young adult. Some scars. Squinted all the time. 'Z'," the toads all answered.

Kylie let the camera dangle freely around her neck. "...What was that last one again?"

...

Peach's shoes or high heels, dry ones that was, clacked rapidly as she stomp down the sidewalk, arms swinging in rhythm. She'd had enough of… everything! Secrets, lies, plumbers, and koopas who constantly inserted themselves into her life despite a so-called Peace Pact between kingdoms, like now. She spotted the Koopa copter hovering her way and quickened her pace when something else approached, a taxi speeding down the street. Peach instinctively dove into the nearest dark alley as the cab pulled over to the side of the road to let someone rush out the back seat.

"Princess, don't you know how dangerous that was with weirdos and such after you? Just look at that! At least have your cellphone on," lectured Mario.

Peach stepped out of the alley. Now grimy feeling, her dress got splattered with some dirt. "I knew what I was doing, my dear Mario," she responded icily. Both turned their heads at the rabid toad girl holding a lit bob-omb running their way.

"Diiiiiie princess!" screamed the girl.

Mario stared at her vacantly before letting his foot out so that she tripped over his toes and completely overshot Peach. The girl rolled on the sidewalk and the bomb even farther away in front of a building.

"That was weird."

"Yeah, for once you're right plumber boy," growled Bowser from the lowering Koopa Clown copter. "Anyway, I spotted Peach wandering around but then my new mook had to mess it up.."

"Sorry Bowser..." Emery mumbled from the pavement. The bomb went off and shattered some windows of the post office.

"Is everyone alright?!" wailed Parakarry, bursting out those doors. He saw Emery on the ground and sighed in relief. "Stop trying to be a terrorist. You aren't good at it," he remarked bluntly.

"You know this traitor?" Peach asked.

Mario's ex partner nodded. "She works at the hospital and is always posting these Bowser propaganda fliers in the mail. I still send them out of course, a postman can't be biased and this is a DMZ so.. That's life!" Smiling, he closed the door shut.

"How ridiculous that a Toad Town citizen work with Bowser." 'The enemy' Mario meant, pointing the koopa out.

"It's a free kingdom, mustache. Lay off! Besides you partner with me, how's that different?"

Emery peeled her face up from the asphalt. "Ouch. Clearly I'm not wasted like I thought cause I totally felt that. Are we still going to the clinic?"

Mario snapped his fingers. "That's perfect 'little traitor girl'!"

"I have a name!"

"Whatever. That's where we need to go for real results, not that other hospital," Mario said.

"So what? You idiots hitch a ride with me? Yeah right!" Bowser howled at that joke. He lowered his head and Mario was giving him that look again.

"They have the Mushroom Flu."

A jolt went through Bowser's system. "...Get in. NOW!"

Everyone squeezed in his koopa copter including Peach who was very uncomfortable so close to Bowser and his deranged sidekick. Well, as long as she was even closer to Mario it could be tolerable. She didn't want to admit it but she did sort of need him and she knew it was mutual no matter how many times they annoyed each other. Soaring a short distance over the villa. anyone on the ground scattered like ants at the sight of the koopa aircraft.

"Alright now everyone except fangirl get out quick! Go go!" Bowser forced Mario and Peach out after landing before the clinic. "Watch the clown car."

"Yes sir!" Emery saluted.

The intern inside screamed when they came in, making her chair flip. "B-Bowser?! Birdley, get him!"

A white bird perched on a hanging cage swooped down at Bowser, smacking in his face and making a poof of feathers fly.

"Bowser's with us," Peach explained foreignly. "Doctor please?"

The intern pointed backwards. She went through the double doors and located her friends right away on the cots, also the bizarrely green skin.

Dr. Toadley spun away from the computer. "Quiz time. Is Mushroom Flu a localized virus? Yes it is."

Peach tore her gaze away. "Localized? From where?"

Bowser barged in, feathers stuck to him everywhere and still spitting some out. "Nice. I swallowed one… Anyway they can't have the Mushroom Flu 'cause people only get that in Dark Land! Lots of us are allergic to mushrooms there."

Mario walked in last. "Didn't you both confirm Doctor Professor worked in Dark Land? He would have known this."

"Yeah he should have known I guess." Bowser's arms crossed and his red eyes focused on nothing as his mind took a bus ride to nowhere in particular.

Peach yanked Mario her way, knowing her anger was misdirected but not attempting to relax. "I knew that advanced testing was just an excuse to waste our precious time!"

"I know that too! How did they deal with this in Dark Land, Bowser?"

Bowser glared back at the plumber. "Your clone Dr. Mario dealt with it way back. DO I LOOK LIKE A DOCTOR?! But that Doctor Professor Koopa was working in my castle at the time so he should of known what was going since this morning if this purple lunatic right here could figure it out in minutes! Stop looking at me like that! Your hospital is what's messed up right now so shut it down!"

The room got silent, Mario reflected a lot of things he'd done all day, granted for only a few seconds, but enough to know it was time to try something new. Or old. "Let's forget our history for a moment."

Bowser's eyebrows rose a little. "..What?"

"I mean it."

"That's a heck of a lot to forget, mustache."

Mario held out his hand with an exasperated but wryly sigh. "Shut up and let's fix this together already."

The princess rolled her eyes. "Mario."

"Peach."

Bowser paused before squeezing Mario's hand hard. "Fine. We're both at a loss here anyway. After all, it's all about the tennis game and the gold medal!"

"Uh, not it isn't-"

"-Shuddup. Doc? What else you got to tell us?"

Toadley spun the computer monitor towards them with 1s and 0s flying in space. Jaws dropped. Of course Dr. Toadley jiggled the mouse and what was actually the screensaver faded away, revealing a plain webpage of patient entry forms Toadley procured by digging through insecure servers.

"What was the last beverage consumed? A soda, Fungus Up."

Mario nodded. "Kylie Koopa told Luigi that she found some cans outside Toad and Daisy's locker rooms." His head tilted slightly lower. "Eh, guess I shouldn't of been so harsh with him over hiring her.."

"Will I contact the Special World Hospital for advice? Yes I will." The toad doctor whistled and Birdley entered the backroom on cue.

Bowser dived flat to the floor, covering his head. "Keep that winged psycho away from me!"

Mario and Peach shuddered. The International Medical University of Special World was a remote and specialized research facility located beyond Star Road as the name suggested. Rumor had it that they took test subjects only for them to never see the light of day. Plus they were nerds... Peach approved anyway then decided to make use of her cellphone for once. She was a princess after all and maybe she had a bit of a bone to pick.

...

Luigi scanned his surroundings one last time in the search for his pal. He'd forgotten that he himself wasn't someone willing to go on Mario's adventures initially. It instead... he had to go through a lot to get him where he was now. He guessed that was why it ate him alive so much that he'd broken another. He and Yoshi traversed the Toad Town sidewalks not saying much. Things were so normal all around, bright evening sky, warm weather, and pedestrians on the streets. It made their problems seem so small and isolated in the grand scheme.

"I'm sorry." Yoshi hung his arm around him. "Earlier, back when we first infiltrated that wicked hospital I found Boo in the bathroom. I can tell he or she has, well, some issues."

"And I made them worse." Luigi kept his head down.

"Some people have to heal when they're ready.."

They crossed through the large park as a shortcut. Away from the many shade trees people were sun bathing in the open spots. Luigi and Yoshi tiptoed around them and wondered once or twice if some of those people were ever going to wake up with how relaxed comfortable they looked, including a little boo near an empty glass bottle.

Luigi rushed over and shook the boo. "Buddy! It's Luigi wake up!"

Boo's eyes fluttered open while reaching for the red bruise on their head. "...Where am I?" they asked in a very gritty voice.

Luigi helped them up. "Thank Eldstar you're alright! We lost you and it's my fault okay? If this is too intense for you we'll get you home."

Boo scanned the plumber up and down curiously. "But why would I want to go home? By the way, it's 'Booigi the second'."

"How did you hit your head?" Yoshi got a closer look at the knot then suspiciously picked up the glass Chuckola Cola bottle, dreading what he was about to ask. "..You weren't drinking were you?"

"No. I was tracking Bowser and.." Booigi's expression went blank. "I don't remember. The heck does it matter? Let's kick Bowser's butt for good!"

Luigi frowned again. "What are you saying?"

"Stop talking. I hear something." Booigi leered facing the more wooded area. Trees and foliage rustled as a dirty and tired looking dark boo approached...

...Kylie rushed back inside the press where many had went home by now, darting to the amateur side and the space of Susie Que. She brushed aside the news papers on their desk but nothing was left, only a small painting. It had a red backdrop that spiraled to a black splotch in the middle and was clearly hand done. The computer had on the screen just an internet browser on a flash games website.

"Did Susie ever return?" Kylie knocked on the door of Steve's office. A typewriter the bullet bill always used clacked away, audible through the closed door.

"Time clock says no," he grunted back.

Kylie spun back around as Jelectro was walking in. "You contact Mario with our office phone. His number is posted on the board. I gotta check something."

Jelectro found up the office phone tucked away in a semi-isolated spot where a five gallon water dispenser was. The beige note tacked to the wall said 'Call this for Mario, or this' with two numbers written. He chose the first and it picked up right away.

"HELLO?" A pure black and particle like appendage jetted out from the speaker to wrap tightly around Jelectro's neck.

"Merde!" he squeaked, dropping the phone to the floor. No one around him had any reaction to the noisy struggle as he attempted to pry the hand away, getting knocked back into the water dispenser, toppling the stacks of paper cups and splashing himself and the floor. Just before the life was squeezed out of him he managed pry it from his windpipe. With a low rumble the dark matter phased away from his palms completely leaving everything normal except Jelectro on the floor in a pink tinged puddle of water and blood. Someone frantically pulled the blue faced noki back to his feet.

"Are you alright?" Jesse propped him up and began to remove his sunglasses before his arms shot out and stopped her.

"Yeah, I passed out because..where I come from.. we don't… have stuff like this.." Struggling with double vision, Jelectro grabbed a paper cup and dispensed some water in it before taking a little sip. "Ahhh…"

"But you're bleeding- well, alright.."

He snatched a wad of facial tissues applied quickly to his upper lip, and glanced at the phone with malice. "Just allergies. Petit bâtard…." he muttered. After a second he chuckled at his own insult to the phone, that very phrase directed at him growing up. He felt dizzy but serviceable, his mood not dampened a bit because it was already in the pits since Peach's Castle. He checked the posted up note again and, surprise, that first number was actually labeled as Peach Castle's number, while the second was Mario's cell phone. He called that.

"Hello? Why is the newspaper company calling right now?" Mario responded.

"Bonjour. I am an intern of a reporter and there was an incident at the princess's castle. Basically, her servants are homeless now."

The line went silent before Mario exclaimed, "How did I miss all of these notifications from your toads, Peach?! Look at this!" Then Mario's line disconnected.

There was something else, the office phone had a lot of relays to Mushroom Kingdom Hospital and exactly one call back with a message left hours ago. Jelectro snooped into that, playing the record out with low volume.

*Beep* "_This is Nass T__oad__, head nurse and secretary of Dr. Prof. Koopa __to Giant Land__. Just calling __off record__ to let you know that __disguising__ your number __as the__ Mushroom Press __downtown__ has messed up all of my data sheets __and I don't appreciate having to redo them__. Please contact us back with your REAL number. Thank you."*__Beep*_

"Bond, does it take five minutes to operate a phone?! Come over here!" Kylie beckoned him while buried in her computer research. "Twelve years ago in Donut Plains there was a 'Zoo Diddley', the son of a popular at the time juggler. Zoo rung a very special object one day in the middle of an act and something really bad went down. Mitch heard of the story back then and it left an impression for a personal reason. Anyway, I'm positive Susie is Zoo but why pretend to be a reporter?" She spun her chair around and had a double take at how he looked. "Are you okay?"

Still holding the tissues to his face that were thoroughly bled through, Jelectro had the office phone under his arm. "Interesting."

"What? No, I'm asking you," she replied quizzically.

"Interesting because this morning right before you met 'Susie' for the first time a stand of the sodas appeared for 'free' in the park, a pallet's worth dropped off by a truck according to message boards. Who owns the largest truck company around? Koopas. If Susie is actually Zoo and has been confirmed to attack Peach's castle, could Zoo be associated with the koopas? If that is true would that not be a motivation to compromise the sodas that we know Toad and Daisy drank and the hospital holding those sick from that very thing?"

"Alright Batman," she chuckled, "You know I was getting to all that. Why did you yank our phone from the wall though?"

"Because I need to-" Jelectro felt a sting in this forehead and held it, trembling. "I have to go! Now!" He stepped away then stopped, facing Kylie again. "Actually, you need to come too!"

She sprung up from her seat galvanized by the panic in his tone. "Sure? You have to leave the phone though. Company policy and those pidgits in corporate are scary!"

"More than this?" Jelectro suddenly raised a silenced pistol from his pocket making anyone working scream and dive under tables and desks.

"I was kidding about the Batman thing, brother!" Kylie sputtered with her arms up. Stuck between him and her own cubical there was no where to run. "Now what the heck do you really want from us?"

"Est-ce que je ne parle pas anglais? I thought not, so let's go!" Jelectro hissed while grimacing from stabbing pain.

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Completed: 6/2/19, 6/3, 6/4, 6/5, 6/7, 6/10, 6/13, 6/14, 6/27**

**Edited: 7/21, 7/30, 8/3, 8/4, 8/20, 8/29  
6/17/20 (page breaks added)**


	8. Bowser Wins

**Mario and Bower: Frenemies Forever 2**

**Bowser Wins (Chapter 8)**

**Disclaimer: Mario belongs to, yes me! No, just kidding.**

**Authors note: A spoiler in the title? Or is it? Mild language. Kind of.**

* * *

"It's all done so I'll just mosey on out.." The janitor stood while leaning slightly on the broom in his hand without a hint of fatigue. One would never know the koopa paratroopa had been working straight from this afternoon to now fixing things in the hospital, the doors, wobbly furniture, squeaky chairs, and a computer security breach..

"Very well, Mr. Koopa. Give our regards to the South hospital." Doctor Professor Koopa held open his office door but stopped him just before he left. "We know it was your brother who infiltrated us this morning as part of that 'MKDCU' gang."

Probabilly kept his face unemotional. "I reckon so.."

Doctor Professor studied him for a second. "Just letting you know. If you see him, we didn't appreciate it." He went one way from the office and Probabilly another.

Work had been slow in the hospital for a while with all of his staff suddenly becoming sluggish or forgetful, even Nass who could zip through any rush instead meddling obsessively or reorganizing her data sheets to what was actually a detriment to productivity. With the top staff in that shape the doctor's experiments planned had to be canceled. He eventually nailed it down to one event, the admission of that semi-famous toad gossip writer. He entered Mitch's room under the guise of standard procedure, clipboard under his arm and first darting to the monitors but paying no attention to the results. Instead the doctor stooped down to his ear. "Try something. I know you can."

Mitch's body remained motionless.

Doctor Professor grabbed the loose power cord to the breathing machine. Regrettably, for him, Mitch had been off of that for hours now. Reaching into the closet, he found a spare pillow and returned to the bedside holding it with a smirk. "Don't want to talk? I guess this won't inconvenience you much..."

"Eldstar, Grambi, and whoever else help me!" Kylie Koopa was huddled down halfway into her shell enduring the reckless driving and the traffic they were cutting through at high speed. The Aston (Martin) Mushroom ran up and scrapped onto the corner of the sidewalk. They'd sped from the Press to the hospital. Jelectro got out of the car and left the driver's door wide open.

"Speedy, hold up!"

Jelectro glanced over his shoulder while busily checking his pockets. "I have urgent 'intern' stuff to do! You drive manual mon ami? Take my car and dispose of it, please. It's classified after all."

She scooted into his seat. "What's why you terrorize my workmates, act like a wacko, and bring me here? To cover for you?"

"Well, you get your scoop too." He shrugged before scurrying off. In the lobby the visible staff were waiting around lazily, all of them as if they had no work to do. Jelectro knew why and where he needed to go. Even Nass at the front desk was too lethargic to react as he sprinted right pass her.

Doctor Professor was pressing hard on with the pillow over the toad for what felt like forever when someone banged on the door. "Code blue!" the voice said.

"What, again?!" Doctor Professor kicked the pillow under the bed with a groan before waltzing over to open the door. He got snatched out and Jelectro held the doctor's collar tight, slamming him into the wall on the opposite side.

"I am Detective Bond and you are under arrest for conspiracy and attempted murder. Hands up!"

Doctor Professor raised his arms. "That can't be right!"

"Tais-toi! There was never a Giant Land hospital on that phone that- what?"

"I don't know!" the doctor cried.

"-I'll finish. That called you to hold the patients without care for fourteen hours. Why?" The noki knocked him against the wall again, gripping tighter.

"Eh..please.. I have family!"

"No confession? Fine. In this fake deal the delay would allow them to get credit for discovering that the disease is actually- Aww! What was that?"

In a flash the doctor's face contorted into a self satisfied half smile. "There sure are a lot of you magikoopa like freaks out here, heh heh heh. My, what is the odds of meeting two in a day, boy? I'll help you out since you can't steal it from my brain. They have the Mushroom Flu which brings me back to the old days when I could still visit the bayou before they polluted it up. I ran a butchers shop on the side. You fish?"

Jelectro let go and stepped back, loading his weapon. "Enough! Whether you know it or not a Bowser affiliate created the hoax! You get nothing."

"Correction. The money was never the point, it was punishing my dear 'Sweet Pea', that's Peach for ever kicking me out of the castle in favor of those putrid incapable toad followers she started collecting," he explained with calculated tranquility. "Yeah keep doing aiming that thing everywhere, child. Mushroom Flu works quick so what you do to me will not-" Doctor Professor was cut off by the intercom screeching with static and screams coming through. Then a clear voice said-

"SOS! Theodore, g-get down here!"

Before they could react from around the hall came a stampede of tall and burly royal mushroom guards, the kind typically only associated with remote locations like where Peach's father stayed out of town, and they were showing no signs of stopping.

"I'm a detective! Wait!"

The crowd of guards swallowed Jelectro anyway while Doctor Professor got a break and dashed back into Mitch's room, locking the door. Cornered, he took a deep breath and then hurled himself out of the window to escape. His frail body and shards of glass plopped down in the bushes landscaping the hospital. There were trucks from the guards all outside and even a helicopter in the sky shining down a blinding beam that swept across the lot in search. He limped away and into the darkness creeping over the land...

"Boo Diddley? Is that you?" 'Z' moved across the park's green grass with a sly smile across his visage. "Weren't you that loser we all beat up at family reunions?"

"He looks like trouble. Let's go." Yoshi was the only one to heed his own advice, the others not even acknowledging him. Boo left Luigi's side and was already floating up to meet the other boo.

"Don't you work for Bowser now, Zoo?" Booigi the Second asked him, face to face. The sky darkened and cast a gloomy hue on the park.

"What if I do? Get outta my way, dweeb."

"I don't think so," Booigi hissed in Zoo's ear, snatching his arm as well. "In fact, why don't you go back to your pathetic waste land of a home in World 8?"

Luigi tried to wedge between the two. "Alright cut it out!" Zoo slung the plumber aside.

"Luigi?" Booigi gasped, becoming their old self for a flash before they spun back in Zoo's direction and swung with all the fury they could muster. The dark boo's body flew backwards and into the bushes again. Zoo lunged out of the foliage to tackle Booigi with a roar. Both tumbled around on the ground slapping and biting and right across Yoshi's feet.

"Stop it! Hey! Stop!" Yoshi repeated as they fought.

Luigi recovered as thunder boomed and some rain to sprinkle down. People around them, sun bathers, or those walking in the park saw this and hurriedly ran for cover. Boo, now with a black eye, tossed Zoo away and held an object in their hand triumphantly, a green Bowser racket!

"This was Mario's racket!" Booigi said. "AND I recognize your voice from this morning! You threatened me at the hospital."

Zoo stood up and burst out in wild laughter, making Luigi and Boo glance at each other for a second in confusion.. "Hehehe tell me what else?"

"-Well since we're in a better mood now," Yoshi interjected, "know that we didn't want to start anything in the first place. We were just taking a shortcut to the clinic."

Zoo turned to Yoshi. "You don't say? Thanks."

Yoshi felt his stomach churn for some reason. "Uh, why?"

"Because that's where Mario is, right?" Zoo explained slowly to watch Yoshi's reaction. "And the princess… and even Bowser. You contacted him without telling Luigi before you entered the park. You also know that Peach is going to shut down the hospital!"

Luigi tore his eyes away from the dark boo to Yoshi. "You knew all of that?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well- I didn't want to excite you too much with you know, everything else and-"

"-Excite me too much? Why wouldn't I be able to handle it? I'm a Mario brother!"

"I didn't mean it like that, Luigi!"

"-Oh you didn't!?" Luigi snapped back, arms folded. "Like you know everything, old man!"

Palm to his forehead, something clicked in Yoshi's brain and his feelings flooded out everywhere, terrible and ugly like the storm approaching. "Maybe in fact I do! See, this is why I needed to follow you around so you don't screw something up every five minutes like we're doing now! You aren't some hotshot and face it, you wouldn't have even gotten this far without me!" His hand raced to cover his mouth.

"See ya." As perfectly planned, Zoo slipped away.

Before Yoshi could apologize or even attempt to explain, Booigi tackled him down. He shielded his face as he was hurled into the mud.

"If you're just so good, bug off from us." Luigi dismissively walked away without turning back, focused on where Zoo had fled to the other end of the park and through the gates. He ignored the dinosaur's cries as they grew fainter with distance. In his pockets was an item for drastic measures, a fire flower. One bite of it and power surged through him, an internal inferno. He would show Yoshi. He would show Mario. He would show anyone else who ever doubted him. Booigi appeared on his side with a whoosh, dragging that racket. Both followed Zoo down the sidewalk as the rain shower became a down pour, then gained on him through dark narrow alley, Luigi's feet splashing in frequent puddles.

"Stop right there!"

Zoo spun around, giving his stalkers a double take. "What the-?! You're still bothering me? Yeah I admit it, okay? I tricked the hospital on the phone when I saw you this morning at the Mushroom Press because I couldn't have you finding out about how everyone got sick with the Mushroom Flu before Ludwig got into town."

"Little punk," Booigi growled.

"Yeah, whatever." Zoo pulled from out of nowhere a can of Fungus Up. "This is how I did it by the way. I think I got a good sales pitch too: This drink springs up over night. It also attracts idiots who read the Toad Town message boards. Hehehehe! Catch poindexter."

He pitched it hard to Booigi who caught it automatically. "No thank you."

"Yeah, enough chitchat Bowser scum. Of course my brother wouldn't be able to see the big koopa behind it all. What made you rat yourself out? Getting your teeth knocked in by my pal? How does it feel to be the 'nerd' now?" Luigi teased.

Zoo traded his annoyance for amusement. "You always were my favorite Mario bro. I almost hate to do this."

Both of their eyebrows raised when they saw Zoo reaching for a pale yellow little bell.

_Ding...Ding...Ding.._

The two walls of the alley rumbled as the ground shook. Both ran out into the street where the businesses and restaurants around including Club 64 were doing the same. The street lights flicked off and power lines snapped. Mushroom citizens ran for cover under cars, trees, or deteriorating structures as a vision appeared in the sky of the same bell but much bigger and more transparent. The rang itself making a deep drone noise then holographic musical notes fell from it to the ground, landing like heavy objects. Everything around was pelted and Luigi and Boo were forced back in the alley.

"We gotta go! Come on!" Luigi tugged Booigi just for his hand to slip away as the boo stayed in place.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Booigi yelled back.

"Boo?! You're not making sense! Come back!" Luigi reached out for his friend to get shoved back to the ground.

"It's Booigi the Second! And I can do stuff now so again stop telling me what to do!" Boo swung at a power box and utterly destroyed it. Reduced to scrap metal, sparks flew in the sky while Boo laughed manically. They turned around but the plumber wasn't impressed, instead pure white, horrified, and slowly backing up before running away and leaving the little boo on the sidewalk alone.

...

Larry kept rocking to his MP3 player at max volume. The red shiny 'BATES by Dr. Greg' noise canceling headphones he'd stole from Roy couldn't even comfort him. Leaning against the wall, he wondered if he could just pull that fire alarm installed on the lower deck of the airship. That tactic had worked for school on occasion and then they all could just go home and life could be stable again. He was going for it when a rainbow haired koopaling popped up in his way.

"Larry. Stop being a jerk." Lemmy smiled and wagged a finger.

"What do you care? You're twenty-two so leave for the circus already like you've cock-teased forever."

"Language! I will _eventually_. Anyway we have to make this plan work, remember the disaster at Ludwig's eighteenth birthday? If you guys would just get onboard it would be fun!"

Larry snorted at his older brother. "Whatever. We're 'on board' whether we like it or not." He yanked the alarm anyway but the handle broke off and tacked on to his paw with some sort of sticky glue. "What the flip?!"

"I disabled it while you weren't looking!"

Larry tried to punch him and missed, striking the hard wall instead. He yelped and held his fist as rain began to patter on the upper decks and the ship swayed in the winds.

"These graphics are amazing!" Iggy bent all the way over the airship's railing wearing some virtual-reality goggles strapped to his face. They were already approaching the Mushroom Kingdom.

The doomship sunk farther into the clouds so that land rolled past below them. They spotted Goomba Village with it's little wooden homes, Koopa Village full of weaklings from their perspective, Flower Fields where Wendy begged to visit for a bouquet, the Mushroom Mall with no one really there, and finally Toad Town where the rain got heavier.

"Everyone, quiet. I'm listening to WMUSH." Ludwig tuned into the radio app with his eyes closed.

"~BZZRT. Kingdom wide alert! Princess Peach calls for emergency evacuation of Mushroom Kingdom Hospital for suspected conspiracy involving dozens sick from the Mushroom Flu-"

His eyes snapped open.

"-Citizens advised to stay indoors due to isolated earthquakes and storms! Stay tuned!~"

Ludwig crushed the 'radio' with his foot and punted if off the ship. But that wasn't a radio, that was his phone he was listening to. The ran over to the edge in time to see it become a falling speck. "Ahhhhh!"

"You got no friends anyway, heh. You'll git over it," Roy sneered.

Ludwig spun back towards his siblings. "First of all who says I desire mindless social contact?" He cleared his throat. "Secondly the word is out on our plans! Keep heading to the Peach Castle."

Kamek nodded, the one driving the airship at a steady cruising speed over town, obscured by foggy conditions.

"You do remember where she lives, uh right?" Iggy whispered to Kamek. "Cause you're heading the wrong way."

Kamek adjusted his glasses with a displaced look. "You mean we aren't in town to shop for wearable blankets?"

Ludwig spun the wheel around making the airship bank left very hard. Now they were on the path towards Royal Raceway and a moment later they stumbled upon Peach's antiquated castle except to everyone's astonishment floating in the sky on a dark opaque disk. A single light was on on an upper floor where Peach's bedroom was with a silhouette of someone in the closed curtains. Ludwig pulled the airship to the side.

"Scared to go? So what they put da old shack on stilts? I ain't impressed!" Roy cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Ooh! Ooh! I am ready, qualified, and eager to invade too!" Morton begged on his knees with a sudden bout of confidence he always got only when Roy showed off.

"Looks like I can test out my totally awesome mecha." Iggy bounced with excitement while beside him was a modified mechakoopa he controlled with the virtual reality headset strapped to his face.

Reluctantly Ludwig nodded. He test fired a cannon ball which bounced off the black disk, proving that it was tangible when the projectile bounced off with a thud. While still having an odd feeling about it he sent his two brothers and Iggy's toy forward. In they disappeared behind its doors.

"...Luddy?"

Some amount of time later, Ludwig's day dreaming came to a halt when Lemmy tapped his shoulder. "What is it?"

Lemmy kept his eyes to the ground. "I kind of called King Dad again. Wait, before you get mad he's still in town and he's with Peach!"

Stunned, Ludwig craned back towards the princess's abode. "This who is in.."

The castle's doors were nearly knocked off the hinges by Roy charging out with a brown capped toad tucked under his arm like a foot ball. The mechakoopa was right behind him and Morton stumbling along. Frantically they hurled themselves over the rails and back aboard the airship nearly running over Larry.

"Hey, freaking watch it!" the teen exclaimed.

Roy panted heavily with his hands on his knees. Behind his shades his eyes were dilated and wide open, but to everyone else he just seemed like he'd came from a winning Koopaball game. The toad, Toadsworth dropped from his grasp and was too dazed to have a reaction. Morton flopped down like a dead cheep cheep on the ship's deck, right under the rigging, his sweat making him about as wet as a cheep cheep as well. Wendy rolled him on his back with her foot revealing second youngest's glazed over and slobbering look.

Ludwig went straight to Iggy. He was at edge of the guard rails giggling while crouched down. "You were recording live with that mechakoopa, correct?… Iggy!…" Ludwig began to feel a pit deep within. "Iggy are you with us?"

Iggy faced him stiltedly, like a machine in need of oil. "Hehhehehehehehehehe."

Ludwig ripped off Iggy's goggles but everything was normal.. By Iggy standards that was..

"Hiii Luddy, er.. what are we yelling about? Whoa!"

Ludwig grabbed and shook him. "What events did you witness in there?!" Lemmy, Larry, and Wendy crowded around to hear.

"Beautiful girls interested in me, limited edition figurines on sale, and and.. my therapist telling me I'm not crazy..."

Ludwig let him go, beaming despite the situation. "Change of plan. Larry, escort Roy, Morton, and Iggy and our hostage downstairs until they recover from their mania."

"Aww man! Wait… we can go home?" Larry asked optimistically.

"Absolutely not. Where was Vater, Lemmy?"

Lemmy gave a start at the sudden attention. "The Toadley Clinic. He was in the middle of a conference or something but-"

"Then we shall go. Kamek?" Ludwig woke the magikoopa out of the snoring he was doing. "Take us there!"

"You say Kammy's taking me on a hot date?!" Kamek babbled, snapping awake. "Sure, you brat!"

...

"Technology is ridiculous. Y'all are gonna tell me next that you can speak to someone across the planet in real time!" Bowser remarked as he tapped the blanked out computer monitor with a sharp claw, nearly ruining it and incurring an equally sharp bill.

The Skype call with several doctors in a Special World Hospital conference room got disconnected while a shady goomba called Dr. Goom went out to get someone called Dr. Toad. It turned out Bowser just stepped on the Ethernet cord at some point. It was plugged back and the connection resumed. Mario sat in a chair backwards while politely listening to the jargon and confabulation the remote doctors were doing. He tried to keep anxious thoughts down as his attention occasionally returned to the sick patients in the room still on the beds. The gloomy atmosphere was enhanced by the lights being dimmed to see the screen better.

Peach sat in a chair properly besides the plumber. "Daddy called me back. He sent an entire squadron there and they said it was successful except they didn't find Dr. Professor Koopa." She sighed. "I think daddy's sending them to another hospital down south near Mt. Rugged that I know isn't corrupt."

"-I knew never spring cleaning the office would pay off, so this is our proposal," Dr. Toad told the screen, gaining Mario and Peach's attention again. He was monotone speaking and very young adult looking toad with a red cap, not who they expected to be the president of such a place. "I have some old case files on the Mushroom Flu. Where are your patients now?"

"Are some here? Yes they are. Are some elsewhere? That too," Dr. Toadley answered inches away from the monitor.

"Excellent. Unfortunately Dr. Mario was the authority on Mushroom Flu and he's not with us anymore. Still, we'll give it all we got," Dr. Toad said with a shy but earnest smile. The transmission was cut again shortly after, not due to Bowser stepping on a cord again, but rather Dr. Toadley's satellite suffering attenuation. They heard a little thunder in the distance and then it all made sense. Really it was almost a miracle they'd stayed connected as long as they had.

"You heard that kid, Peach. We got this." Mario gently held her hand as she kept staring at the blank screen. "What's wrong?"

"..Oh!" She turned to him with a flush. "Just the toads from the castle were supposed to get here by now so I think I'll check outside."

"Don't worry too much now. They can take care of themselves," Mario replied more offhanded than he meant. He quickly apologized, flipping the chair the correct way so that he would lean back in it with his legs crossed. Dr. Toadley's minesweeper game, beeping computers, and Bowser getting attacked by Birdley was going on in the background. "But they are mostly adults and you do get a little tired of them, right?"

"..."

"I mean, they're not going to work in your castle forever. Best they learn the simple stuff." He found her suddenly missing from his side.

How dare Mario go there again, she thought. Her toads were not mere employees to her, well they were on paper and legally since the regime change that put her in office, but still. Peach was outside with her parasol where the rain shower beat down heavily and her toads were nowhere to be found at the bus stop. She noticed Emery still manning Bowser's Koopa copter after all this time and without shelter which dissipated the petty irritation bubbling. After all the princess couldn't let her suffer, baddie or not.

"Here you go." Peach tilted it over Emery's head. "Dear, you should come inside before you catch a cold."

"Well thanks," Emery almost chuckled, not sure how to react. "But I've been through worse."

"-Why did you join Bowser?" Peach knew she shouldn't pry but the question had already slipped and reassuringly Emery didn't seem offended.

"Because… It's not personal with you or anything. I just didn't see myself falling in line with the other toads for the rest of my life and it's kind of ironic because my mom Nass was from Dark Land and was always complaining about it and wanting to move to the Mushroom Kingdom. For me. That was when she cared. Never mind. I dunno how to explain it. I know I sound weird right now but I'm okay with that. Plus Bowser hired me on the spot."

Peach nodded, thankful for that bit of honesty even if it made her feel guilty for assuming there could be no valid reason to side with Bowser. In the end of the day though, people were people and it wasn't black and white like that. At least she hoped.. What was that part at the end about her mother caring? Peach was about to speak again-

"There you are!" Zoo randomly ran up to both women. "I've been all over the place looking for you!"

"And you are?" Peach stepped back.

Zoo leaned on the koopa copter, smiling oddly at the princess. "Just a guy. It don't matter anyway, chick. They're here. Also, you're hot this close. I've only seen you on posters before."

Everyone heard that familiar drone of a koopa airship approaching and fast. It's exact location wasn't obvious until it emerged from the low hanging clouds, but when it did the two hundred foot long vessel was impossible to miss swooping down with the anchor swinging their way. Bowser and Mario bolted out the doors to see the ship.

"Attention our lovely and dear princess!" Ludwig's voice rang from above through an intercom like system. "Us, the Koopa Troop take full responsibility for the tragedies of today, the sudden illness of your friends and mushroom citizens, AND the event affecting your castle right now!"

"You guys did that?!" Mario shouted.

"Yeah, you did?" Bowser added, scratching his head.

"Correct and here is the proof, we have your Toadsworth!" The sound of the old mushroom being shoved around before the mic was heard before Peach begged them to stop.

"What do you want?" she plead.

"We request for Mario to surrender and for you to kindly step onboard, princess. It's quite nice here with a space heater and certainly more dry than your current predicament! The weather will be even nicer in Dark Land!… Except on Tuesdays..."

"If you work for Bowser and I can tell you do, this is when we sneak on board," Zoo told Emery down low. Undetectable in the chaos they climbed up the chain from the anchor. Emery always kind of wanted to do this, just not in a storm and at the suggestion of a sleazy dark boo. A gentle hand from Wendy confusingly let her on. Z waited for his turn.

"Get your tail up here, garbage man!" Larry instead grabbed him and pulled him up rough, making him flop face first on the hard and splintery airship flooring.

"Never!" Mario replied to Ludwig back on the ground. "And you knew about this all day, Bowser?"

Bowser turned to him speechless. Was this what he wanted? The princess right besides him, trembling, vulnerable.. But- What was the 'but'? He didn't know.

"Bowser?" Mario repeated with an edge.

Bowser's gaze panned from Peach to the plumber and they held the look for a moment that felt much longer. "Plumber breath? There's something on your face….This!" Bowser punched Mario, knocking him all the way back through the Toadley Clinic's doors with a great crash. Peach screamed as he scooped her up in one quick motion and grabbed the chain, climbing up while the airship increased it's altitude.

"Mariooooooooo!" Peach called as loud as she could.

Mario untangled himself from the chairs he'd rolled into and shook off the sharp glass to dash out. He saw the anchor and chain rising, catching it barely with a triple jump. He vigorously climbed higher ignoring the minor bleeding from cuts all over, the straining of his muscles holding on, and the numerous times he slipped from rain. He could hear his princess's voice above and that pushed him harder than ever. He was almost over the edge of the airship when Ludwig's dark face appeared over with a scowl, hair flowing in the wind.

"No you do not, Mario. I have waited FIVE YEARS for this and I swear to Eldstar you will not impede on my mission! My destiny! Curses you!" He raised up his scepter but before using it a clap of thunder sent a bolt from the sky. With a spectacular and eye searing flash both koopaling and plumber were sent flying, Ludwig back into the rigging of the ship and Mario off completely to plunge below and fall a great distance.

It was over.

With Mario out, _Bowser __wins_.

* * *

**...To be continued!**

**Created: 6/3/19, 6/6, 6/8, 6/9, 6/10, 6/12, 6/14, 6/16**

**7/4, 7/7, 7/29, 7/30, 8/3, 8/4, 8/29, 8/30, 9/4**


	9. A speciest and nationalistic concept

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**A speciest and nationalistic concept (Chapter 9)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

**Author notes: Shifting into the next gear...**

* * *

Finally Peach could see what was going on as a flickering over head light switch shut on. Tied securely to a support beam in the bowels of the doomship it was pitch black until now and who she saw made her recant all the dark thoughts that were whirling in her brain right away. Her trusted and dear Toadsworth whom she hadn't seen since being abducted was tied to a pole across from her and seemingly okay, as much as one could be among unmanned cannons, stacks of ammo, bizarrely discarded shopping bags, and the occasional mouser. This was clearly not a good situation still, not even a facsimile of one. The creaks and squeaks along with the engines in a demented rhythm, it was a premonition but to what she didn't know. Natural light spread onto her from an open hatch and fresher air blew down.

"How's it going? We're almost home so uh, brace yourself!" Lemmy warned amiably.

Peach felt the ship tilting down, getting shakier the lower they went. Finally they landed hard and forces sent loose ammo rolling at their feet and shopping bags in their faces. A paper bag from 'Tirade-N-Trade' landed completely over Peach's head, obscuring what was happening next. Some little hands untied her all a sudden.

"Stop being so gentle, Lemmy. LET'S GO!" a voice that was Ludwig barked.

Peach was lead out the ship from one horrid location to another. The air smelt like ash and brimstone and she was forced across dry cracked soil and through the entrance of Bowser castle with the fleet of the ship. The tall metal doors shut behind her with a slam that echoed.

"Send the princess to the deluxe holding room!" Bowser commanded nearly in her ear, close on the left. They marched up some red carpeted halls.

"And what of your upcoming matrimony?" Ludwig inquired on Peach's other side.

"I'm thinking 'bout it but why are _you_ rushing it?"

"Because I… Never mind Vater," he trailed off, sounding slightly offended.

Bowser continued on picturing piranha plant bouquets, getting fitted with a fancy suit and tie, and future honeymoon plans as he and the others from the airship were dispersing into their usual areas in the castle. Roy, Morton, and Iggy were conscious enough to enter on their own two feet but got sluggish upon the first room in Bowser's Castle, a torch lit hallway with a high ceiling. Zoo was then tasked to drag them to their rooms and Toadsworth to the dungeons.

"Old man, come the crap on!" Zoo pushed Toadsworth onto the carpet.

Toadsworth stumbled forward then turned his head, his beady eyes peering into the dark boos blankly. "Ring it..." were the first words he'd said in hours.

"Yeah, dat's it. Ring it," Roy mumbled.

"What he said! Words! A synonym. Another to that!" Morton piped up in a robotic fashion.

Iggy kept giggling while hugging himself, his blue eyes more dilated than normal.

Freaked out, Zoo ran to find the nearest guard in the hallways and found a koopatrol stationed in the next corridor. Standing off to the side under an archway he was speaking to Emery.

"Yeah ha ha, just uh, take it I guess. I'm a shut in anyways." He handed her a Dark Land pass in a plastic bag. These let citizens use the kingdom's 'transport' services whether bus, train, or getting shot out of a cannon, the economic route.

After a second's hesitation Emery accepted with a blush. "Thanks and now I'll leave you alone. I'll make it up to you I promise okay? See ya."

The koopatrol kept grinning stupidly as she left down the hall so Zoo zoned in right behind her. "Hey help me out!" he yelled, making the guard drop his spear in a klutzy manner.

"Zoo? What are you doing here late?"

"Stop being retarded, Tanner! I was with Bowser all day 'cause it was me that won that raffle to help them, remember? Also stop flirting too. It'll never work if she finds out about that weird super crown thing you're always thinking about, like right now.."

Tanner swiftly grabbed the downed spear before some other guard could rat him out. "Shhh! I wish I won and got to visit Toad Town where the sun actually shines.. I have permanent tan lines from this helmet and not the good kind.."

"Blah blah. Whatever, bro." The raffle that happened last week was just a 'Humanitarian' effort by Ludwig to prevent the staff of the castle from being recluses as every one of them would freely admit they were. Zoo tracked the actual winner after guessing some letters on the ticket he had to use a magnifier to see, followed them home, hid the body by morning, and clocked in normally for his shift as the janitor. "-Anyway help me move these guys so I can clock out and snore in my freaking bed and probably wet it because I have issues!"

"Whoa okay! Didn't need to know!" Tanner peeked around to make sure other's weren't patrolling. "You got any souvenirs from Toad Town?"

"Here. This is supposed to be real fancy." Zoo handed him a Lexus emblem taken from a certain car crash earlier.

Soon Tanner was impressively supporting Roy and Morton on each side and Iggy on his back, hauling them while Zoo was dragging around Toadsworth to the dungeons. Zoo had gotten into a lot more trouble today than he usually had a chance too, but that was the past and the future would be counting sheep.

Larry was on his bed face down in a pile of old clothes, wrestling magazines, and leftover takeout boxes feeling very sick to his gut. Bowser wasn't holding the princess here for games with Mario like usual but instead thinking of wedding plans and fast. Then Kammy hogging up space in the hallways mentioned something that brought up the most horrible imagery- saying a lot considering Larry was a teenager with an internet connection, of if Bowser was to have more children..

"Larry, could you bring the laptop to my room?" Ludwig texted him. Larry pulled himself out of bed and went to hand it over in a very brainless and numb fashion. All of the Koopalings shared a floor in the castle and Ludwig's was at the very end with a carved antique door and an iron cast knocker that had no place indoors but was there anyway.

"Thank you. I'm examining the contents of a hard drive but Iggy likes to encrypt data so it might take a moment," Ludwig explained with a touch of drowsiness after accepting. Beyond him Larry could see the mechakoopa on Ludwig's neat and tidy bed. "I must know what happened, that and shop for a tuxedo. Time waits for no koopa.."

Ludwig opened the laptop on his bed only for it to close down on this fingers. "Ouch! Blöder Dell X-piece of…" he muttered, adjusting the broken hinge. He connected a cable to the mechakoopa to examine the raw footage. Rife with digital artifacts the video followed his brothers inside the castle then got nearly black. He adjusted brightness to no avail so he leaned in closely and strained his eyes, not noticing the black particles escaping from the screen and congregating in the room surrounding his work desk, bookshelves of literature, musical instruments, and his large trophy wall with a single badge of honor missing...

Larry stood before the bedroom door that was slammed in his face moments before. Suddenly he bolted upstairs and rung the bell outside Peach's cell. This special room was in a spire of the castle with a window and a furnished vintage inspired and kitschy interior that Kamek insisted they let Kammy decorate a while ago.

"I'm coming in." Larry found Peach seated legs curled in the wicker chair near the window watching the purple dusk sky, the setting sun obscured behind the cloud coverage Dark Land always kept. The vanity and bed set still had thick layers of dust like she hadn't touched anything yet. "I just wanted to tell you-"

"I know Bowser is planning a wedding." Peach remained fixed outdoors. "Is Toadsworth okay in the dungeons? He's sensitive to mold and cold food."

Tough, Larry thought because the entire castle could do her one better. It had cold AND moldy food. "I'm sure he's alright, actually I was gonna like, uh, end this all... I can't let dad marry you and have- oh Eldstar, more kids!"

She turned his way, a with visible shudder. "What?"

"Yeah, I thought that too. I ain't gotta license, I mean I did but it got taken way when I ran over Bowser's toe during a drag race. I can't fight the best, though I did break a kids nose at school once with brass knuckles. And I can't strategize, well I can if I cheating off homework, but that's different. Listen, I ain't got an idea of how to do it but I'll make it happen."

Peach nodded, hearing what he was saying but her mind also racing. Still with her was her cellphone that escaped confiscation because she was hardly known to use it. It was even fully charged still from lack of use during the day. "If I was to call help, would anyone in this castle know?"

Larry thought about it. "I wont tell nobody about your phone. Also, I gotta get to bed before I get grounded. We'll figure stuff out tomorrow."

"Thank you, I really mean it." And she turned back to the window.

Larry stopped at the door nervously. He could have sworn she was smiling a little. "..Yeah. You're welcome." Outside the door he nearly had a heart attack being rushed by Wendy all a sudden. She was fitted in pink robe and with a bonnet on like she was kicked out of bed abruptly.

"Sugar, let's get to daddy's throne room. Now!" She prodded him away.

"Lay off, ugly. Why?"

"I don't know? Why were you up here?"

"To play a prank on Peach by ringing the doorbell and then bailing. That's why!"

"But that's stupid!" she said, pinching his ear. "Everyone knows about your problematic pranking stunt Youtube channel so that narrows it down don't it? Just march or else!"

Larry quickened his pace downstairs...

"Luddy, wake up! King Dad wanted to talk to us all."

Slumped over his desk, Ludwig raised his face up from the laptop it was buried in. Imprints from the keyboard and crust from drooling marred his face. His eyes burned badly, or rather it was the five pointed star shape burning under his eyelids causing the discomfort. One Lemmy split to three as he tried to focus while mumbling in agreement to whatever was being asked of him.

"What is the pressing matter Vater?" 'Refreshed' Ludwig stood closest to Bowser at his throne. His siblings minus Junior who was still at camp lined up behind him, even Roy, Morton, and Iggy who became normal as the night hours rolled by but with no recollection of the Peach's Castle events. Bowser had unfortunately for them reverted to his ill-tempered and jaded self who hadn't had enough coffee. A foot of the Koopa king stomp the ground, shaking everything in the room.

"I need answers now, Ludwig! Explain how this worked."

"We had Sam and Slam, friends of Iggy who are usually video-game collectors but also own a shipping truck company find some vintage cans of Fungus Up for us to taint with a Mushroom Flu virus," Ludwig explained, fighting to seem more alert than he was. "The virus samples were found in some old lab archives. 'Zoo' as they call him was sent into town get rid of the sodas and he personally was to deliver some to Toad and Daisy, high profile victims. There are extra cans in our basement."

"Then?!" Bowser snapped like a threat. "Okay so you do that. Now tell me why Peach's Castle is in the sky?"

Now Ludwig knew what this was all really about. "I must humbly admit that I nor my siblings orchestrated that part. We stumbled upon the phenomenon in search of Peach in the city and I thought to feign responsibility as a bargaining chip. I am the best negotiator."

The Koopalings collectively and loudly agreed since they were in just as much hot water as far as Bowser was concerned.

"SHUT UP EVERYONE SHUT UP! Alright, you say you don't know? Listen to this."

Bowser summoned to the door a lakitu with balaclava on riding a darkened stealthy cloud. His intense eyes scanned the room before he entered, making the Koopalings clam up in intimidation. "Sentry #11 reporting. This info got relayed across the seven kingdoms in between us and the Mushroom Kingdom, boss. The leaked news report for tomorrow will be 'Princess kidnapped, Bowser's agent wreak havoc on city by suspending her castle in sky, displacing her toads, and attacking historic buildings downtown.' We got an image taken by a bystander repossessed by our Koopa Troop scouts." The lakitu retrieved from his shell a photo that Bowser had already seen but was new to the Koopalings. It showed a crystalline bell shape in the sky with musical notes raining down, not unlike what rained from the platform that held Peach's Castle in the sky.

Ludwig faced away, hand resting on his chin. "You are not implying our worker did this?"

"Sounds like it," Bowser answered, crossing one leg over the other.

Ludwig spun back around pleasingly. "Well is that not excellent? Zoo the steward was the best person for my new program, even if I don't even remember picking him. Now as the first Koopa Troop commander to kidnap the princess without assistance from the King, that is you of course Vater, can I have my 'Honorary Mega-Villain' badge that I should have earned years ago already?"

"-Oh, I forgot to admit the person the person that met our scouts at the rendezvous tonight was that Toad Town reporter, Kylie Koopa," the sentry mentioned, gaining a curious tone in his voice. "She ran the scouts off and hinted that she'd reveal the dark boo involvement. What do you say about that?"

"As long as the princess is with us now their threats don't mean nothin'." Bowser dismissed the sentry. "Now Ludwig you'll get your badge. Just hope that Zoo doesn't want to speak up about how all of that really destructive stuff was really his work and not yours_._.."

Ludwig nearly felt the floor give way beneath him. His work and not yours?

HIS work and NOT yours?!

...

"Don't linger you two!" Ludwig called back to the others, lifting his hood and while the torch light he was holding cast his shadow on the side of a hut. With him were Lemmy and Iggy sneaking around the village near the castle while everyone else were in bed by now. Lemmy wasn't fooled by him tiptoeing around and insisted he join while Iggy was intentionally brought along for some useful night vision gadgets. It helped that all three had night owl tendencies for their own reasons, music composition, science projects/ videogames, or gym practice. Ludwig carried under his arm something from his personal library, 'Ex spatio obiecti specialem Lexicon' upon which he'd studied into the early hours. He knocked on the shabby door of a shack on an isolated path near a forest. Wind howled in the barren trees as he kept beating the door.

"Kind of creepy but this would be an epic place for an anime battle," Iggy mentioned out of the blue. "Or maybe a spot where the world ends!"

"Iggy, quit that please," Ludwig reminded.

"Maybe our guy's sleep," Lemmy advised over Ludwig's left shoulder.

"Just a little longer my trusted adjutants. I _shan't_ give up," he replied more to reassure himself than them. Squeezing his eyes shut, Ludwig still had that afterimage of a dark star, even with each blink and beneath his bonhomie and the forced smiles it was getting annoying. He couldn't remember whatever footage he saw on the laptop screen that did this to him.

Next a little lamp behind a blanket drooped over the window cut on and the door swung open. "Listen you crazy neighbors I gotta get up and work everyday so if you try to knock one more time!-" Zoo froze. "...I mean come in I guess?"

His rulers entered the small space and Zoo was too sleepy to feel embarrassed. His cabin was one room with an old beige couch that let out to a bed, a rusty electric stove in the corner, and some pins and other objects and for juggling in the opposite corner.

"I know the hour is late. We are only here to verify exactly what you did yesterday," Ludwig spoke cordially.

Zoo prepared what he had to say quickly. He couldn't tell what they were thinking because his contacts prescription expired a year ago and he saw thoughts as floating words. "That. Okay so I scribbled 'free' where the sodas were dropped off then I got pretend hired at the newspaper press so I could learn about the tennis game and then I went there-"

"-Excuse me, but what of your actions pertaining to Peach's castle floating in the sky?"

Iggy nodded. "It was super cool before I blanked out I guess. Like when Koopau fought the Super Plumbers in the fourth dimension..."

Zoo pointed to one of the objects with the juggling pile, a little wooden box. Inside was the small yellow and almost transparent bell with a warm but pale glow to it. "So I lost this thing for a long time but it showed up again recently. I took it with me and crazy stuff just kept on happening! You don't think I'm tripping do you? Just don't take it out the-"

Lemmy tried to touch it, granting the reward of a horrible zap to his claw, even scorching it black. "Youch!"

"Yeeeeah. That'll happen bro. I got used to it back in the day."

Amazed Ludwig opened his book to a page he'd marked. "That is the 'Doom Reverb' as I suspected! It says here that this possessive object is in particular a physical manifestation of a dark star cast to the Earth by the guardians of the pure hearted."

"You believe that?" Lemmy questioned, sharing glances from Ludwig to the mesmerizing bell in the box. "You used to be so staunch about that stuff being a.. whatever big words you used."

"_A 'speciest and nationalistic concept_' which I felt and do believe still in a way considering that no one is ever indoctrinated to believe that the Star Spirits, Guardians, whatever you want to call them protect us Koopa races, but instead the blissful toads of the world. The undeserving idiots. Ah hem, regardless that debate is distinct to that of whether they actually exist and affect the world around us in which my official opinion is that they do. Simple."

"I could have told you that aliens, wishes, stars, and the Fang-Fairy are real, just saying," Iggy added. He got dope slapped.

"And you also think that attractive females want to date you. You were just a broken clock right on a pure fluke." Ludwig shrugged dismissively.

"But I was right that Sam and Slam wouldn't deliver all the sodas without getting into an argument and leaving early!"

"Again, enough! So you were right twice. Guess what? Your two chances are spent! Anyway I digress. Bring it closer." Ludwig snatched the box with the Doom Reverb from Lemmy with intentions to just take a look. The moment the box was in his palms his eyes felt heavy but he resisted or else he'd be looking at that inverse star. But.. he had to!

"Are you alright?" Lemmy asked while brother's head kept tilting downwards.

"Fine fine. I'll continue to read. This object.. holds reality threatening power… power of what the Dark Star chooses to manifest depends… on the times the item is.. used. Ownership can.. pass on through physical possession or.. DEATH. Wow. Ah hem, and the owner holding some… psionic power to link.. to the bell and the cosmos increases strength…. Exponentially..." Slowly the eyelids drooped and closed at last, the calmness of sleep absent, in fact opposite. He felt a pressure from inside out while his brain clouded with a thick fog. He could feel himself drifting farther and farther away, not even on Earth anymore with nothing he could consciously do about it. He disaffiliated from his body all together.

Iggy spun to Zoo, oblivious to Ludwig swaying. "I've been meaning to ask how you are our castle's best poker player that even beat a computer A.I. I designed one time to play perfectly. Luddy deduced you have some sort of super power. Is that it?"

"Me? No way bro!" Zoo denied.

Ludwig's vivid blue eyes opened and he pulled the box close to him against his cloak like it was the most precious thing in the world, dropping his book. "As your Prince I command you to give this item to me for further research!"

"No way!" Zoo spat back. "I need this and you can't just take it! I bet you just want all the credit from earlier!"

'Oh, great so this did turn into an ego thing,' Lemmy thought. He pulled back forcefully on his brother's stiff shoulders. "Luddy. Cut this out. Don't be a jerk," he told him in his so called 'serious' tone.

Ludwig in turn knocked Lemmy aside and into the stove corner to clash against pots and pans. When Ludwig turned his head, Zoo had snatched the box back.

"Try it sucker!" The boo escaped the house, phasing through Ludwig and the walls.

Ludwig charged out while Lemmy popped up from the pile of cookware with a pan on his head. "Iggy! After Luddy! He's gone crazy like you guys did earlier!"

The 'twin' brothers (though no one had considered them such for a long time now) sprinted out together. In the moonlight Ludwig was on the prowl after Zoo through a forest path with rough terrain and piranha plants and nippers waiting. It all lead to a clearance leading to a cliff and at the bottom of the long drop was barren land with brambles. Hunched over Ludwig approached the boo who peered over the edge. Zoo misread a sign and missed the path that would have lead eventually into Neo Bowser City. Instead he was at a dead end.

Jaw clinched, Ludwig pulled from his pocket a bright orange Zapper and loaded it. Zoo gulped just as the others caught up.

"Luddy! Stop!" Lemmy plead, rolling his ball as fast as he could uphill.

"And if you're going to use a weapon at least use a cool one!" Iggy tossed a replica laser gun from the anime show 'Cowboy BoomBoom'.

"Iggy!"

"What? He shouldn't murder our janitor but if he does my weapon has real laser action and is 1:1 scale, just saying!"

Ludwig ignored the toy gun tossed to his feet as he began to take aim. With a start, Zoo brought the bell from it's box and held it up. It was unusually and excruciatingly painful to hold from all of the over usage that day.

"Listen bro. Don't make me do this. I will ring this thing as hard as I can! Try me!"

Ludwig's eyebrows raised in wonderment as he made heavy steps forward. "Yes. I want you to! Ring it!"

"Why do I feel like I've told someone to ring a bell today?" Iggy thought out loud.

Lemmy pushed him on. "Just get him!"

They attempted to tackle Ludwig down but Iggy was a nerd and Lemmy not sizable in comparison so they couldn't keep him pinned securely enough nor prevent one right hand with the zapper from aiming. A shot was fired, grazing the skin of Zoo's arm. He rung in a panic, filling the air with the sounds of the bell. Still in the process of shaking the noisemaker frantically, the bell hologram materialized in the sky. It dropped, not music notes, but an entire giant murky colored star that fell flat on top of the dark boo, crushing him. The star then flipped upright again.

"THANK YOU FOR FREEING ME AT LAST. BWA HAHAHA," said a voice, as if thunder itself could speak. "AS YOUR REWARD, THE WINDS THAT CREATED YOUR WORLD WILL NOW DESTROY IT!"

Ludwig felt a severe dissociation and headache and he returned to himself. "OWW! Please stop twisting my right bicep! What are you two doing? And- what is that?!"

Lemmy and Iggy mitigated the tugging, staring agape at what had just spawned.

The star, now hovering in front of the to block it completely sent a wind storm to knock them all off the hill and back into the forest. Hurricane like gales increased in intensity and spread to cover all of the land. A broken clock could be correct more than twice...

…

Mario always wondered what his next thought would be when he finally met his match. Would it end in death? Or something worse? What would be the next sight upon realization that he'd failed? The next smells? The next sensation? The next sounds?

He pondered because it was banjos and he _really_ didn't expect banjos. Dueling ones!

"Dang it, Jr. You beating the poor geetar done woke him up!"

"Don't tell me what to do, partner!" The playing of the fast paced folk melody continued outside the door.

Mario was in a ranch styled little room painted a light salmon color. The air was fresh and the morning sun cast warm rays though the open window which was also near a mounted wagon wheel on the wall. Across from the bed he laid in was a little rocking chair on a cowhide rug. The music stopped. He sprung up when he saw the familiar yet not face of Jr. Troopa peeking in.

"Howdy. Glad you recovered," his odd little acquaintance greeted. Jr. Troopa was no longer the little kid he'd quarrel with but now a stretched out and lanky teenager with some messy brown hair under a cowboy hat that replaced his old egg shell. And that was weird. Well, not really. Reminders of mortality did that to Mario. He reacted the same when he found his one string of grey hair.

"How did I get here?"

"A search party found ya, those real obsessive Super Mario Maker fans I think. So rooin tootin I had to beat em off of ya really to get ya rested up and yer business in order."

Mario wondered where Jr. Troopa's southern drawl came from. It clicked that he was in one of the Mushroom Kingdom Hospital South's facilities, the sister hospital to their Toad Town version located not far from Mt. Rugged, but something else was at play here.. He pulled himself out of bed to suffer pain shooting in his legs, arms, and back, topped off with a bit of vertigo.

"Did I fall from a building?" Mario sat on the edge and watched his feet dangle down, doubles and triples in his vision.

"From Bowser's airship I heard. You're still looking rough. Vick! Get em some grub!" Jr. Troopa called out the door with some sudden authority. He turned back to Mario. "Did I tell you I'm head nurse here even though it's only been a few months? Talk about quick promo-"

A ptooie plant with a red spotted handkerchief around his neck inched in the doorway. "All right.. and since he's up I'll tell em all to skip the 'hillbilly hail'."

"Hillbilly hail?" several voices from outside the room shouted.

Jr. Troopa spun around with shielding arms. "Fellas! Hoooooooold up!"

In barged a bunch of cowboys and ranchers holding huge metal buckets full of ice and water. It was dumped all over Mario's head, shocking him right out of the bed and into the hallways to shiver curled up.

"What is wrong with you guys?!"

"Just a tradition down here. Sorry partner!" Jr. Troopa's red sneakers stopped inches from his face but there was something else coming up in Mario's line of sight. Something worse.

"Visitor for Mario!" An intercom voice said. Right around the corner came his brother Luigi who did a double take at his drenched brother in his underwear only.

"Mario?!"

"I just got 'hillbilly hailed'!" Mario cried desperately.

Luigi's cup of tea sat and simmered untouched while Mario's was but a few drops left. Outside the emptied out saloon Mario could see the red and jagged shaped Mt. Rugged on one side and agricultural mushroom farms on the other. He had on fresh clothes and felt cozy on the outside at least.

"The toads are in Hotel Mario."

"I've got nothing to do with that place. Baddies run it under my name for some reason."

"It's temporary."

"Okay?"

"Yeah." Luigi finally took his sip in a rather unnatural manner.

"Anything else to tell me? Important?"

Luigi paused and then some life returned to him. "Peach made a call before Dark Land's lines went down. Basically she's safe for now but we need to rescue her quick."

Mario reached into his pockets and his phone was still there and operational as evidenced by his lock screen image of Peach on a cruise ship greeting him. He'd need to give Jr. Troopa credit for not dry cleaning it with his overalls by accident.. "I didn't get her message!"

"Because she didn't 'call' exactly," the younger brother explained with air quotations. "It's technical stuff but she's pinging her location just with the usual delay between crappy outdated kingdom cell towers-"

"-Giving credit where it's due they didn't even have _that_ when we arrived here."

"Don't remind me bro. Also something else. We got this guy now." Luigi spun around.

The western styled doors opened and inside radiantly strode a toad adventurer with a headlamp strapped around his head, smiling widely. "Ready for adventure!"

* * *

**TBC**

**Note: If you didn't get the Dell thing, Think about this. It's called a Dell XPS. Now get it?**

**Created: 6/10/19, 6/11, 6/12, 6/14, 6/16, 6/17, 6/19, 6/23, 6/25, 6/26, 6/27, 6/30, **

**edit: 7/12, 7/27, 7/28, 8/3, 8/4, 8/25, 8/26, 9/1, 9/11**


	10. Typical Saturday Morning

**Mario and Bowser Frenemies Forever 2**

**Typical Saturday Morning (Chapter 10)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: The set up begins...**

* * *

There was loud talking, jesting, off-key singing, and spit-balls flying in a school bus driving away from Bowser Badlands, a swampy, outdoorsy and more remote area of World 8 where the official Koopa Scouts campsite was stationed. Pinned to Bowser Junior's uniform forming a colorful mosaic were all the merit badges earned because he was simply the most skilled, the most disciplined, and well known as the King's son, but not exactly in that order.. The bus screeched to a halt and his game system flew out his little paws, sliding under the seat in front of him.

"Oooh free 3DS with Smash Brothers in it and DLC and Bayonetta's skimpy outfit!" a scout ahead screeched.

"Gimme that! Hey!" Junior warned, beating his fist hard against the seat from behind.

"Kids, for the love of- Settle down," the buzzy beetle bus driver moaned as they kept driving over an unusual amount bricks and debris in the road.

The boomerang bro Scoutmaster seated in the bench behind the driver spun around towards the dozen koopa scouts all impatiently waiting. "Looks like there were some storms while we were away. Anyway, here's Junior's stop coming up."

Junior stepped off with huge backpack strapped on and bus sped off, leaving him in the dust. The tyke could see for miles around because just about everything was knocked nearly flat. Bowser's Castle ahead had its roof ripped from it with the viciousness. All of the lava was drained from the moat and displaced into puddles in the front lawn. The family's airship was lying flat on its side. Walking around he found everyone's possessions scattered about and some of his family standing around at a makeshift camp site in the backyard looking miserable. Bowser wore a sleeping cap and had large bags under his eyes, waddling around to face his son.

"Junior?" he sputtered. "Was everything safe coming back?"

Junior ran up to hug his father. "What happened daddy?"

"I woke up like that!" He pointed to his king sized bed reduced to a pile of burning rubble in one of the lava pools. "Plus Ludwig, Lemmy, and Iggy are missing. All of my koopa troop too or maybe they ran away! Gah! I'm losing my mind!"

Larry dragged from a hole torn in the castle a chest of items. "You're welcome. Pfft making me do all the-"

Almost everyone gathered to salvage junk, Kammy a portable fan that gently stir air around her face, Kamek had a wearable blanket that was promptly worn, Morton found his prized half finished thesaurus he was working on, Roy got a suspicious little bag, and finally Wendy dug in. A second later she kicked the chest away with a pout.

"This is just CDs, energy drinks, and video games! And not even my Princess Parlor ones! Daddy! He's making me mad!"

Bowser covered his ears, grimacing. "Shut up shut up shut up! Where's Peach? She's supposed to be in my sight all of the time!"

"I'm here Bowser." Stoically Peach walked up, her foot attached to a chain attached to Toadsworth attached to a weighty black ball. "First I get kidnapped then an apocalypse happens! We didn't even get married this time to start it!"

"Gee I wonder what terrible little thing will happen when you do tie the knot again, ee hee hee," Kammy wondered.

"THERE HAS TO BE A WORLD TO GET MARRIED IN FIRST!" Bowser bellowed.

"Good thing I learned survival skills in camp!" Junior snatched from some rubble old lab test tubes clearly marked 'toxic'. "See, we use these to collect rain water." He held his 3DS. "And the Street Pass feature will tell others where we are if they have a 3DS!" He picked up a bottle of beer dislodged from a cooler. "And this alcohol will keep us warm!"

"Hooooold it. I'm not sure about that." Gaily Bowser gently removed the beverage and stored it for 'safe keeping'. "Kamek, can ya look around?"

"Yeah yeah..." Kamek flew up to scout the perimeter of the castle, taking his time. He returned to Bowser. "I know the roofs gone but the walls look strong so maybe we can-"

There were cracking noises then the left wall of Bowser's castle fell over flat as a pancake, causing a great dust storm to cover everyone…

Under a red sky the group took a desert trek across the Dark Land grounds to the nearby residential area on way to Neo Bowser City. Displaced land owners stood in the midst of their own shattered dreams, eyeing the royal family with disdain the moment they were in sight. Their two hostages stuck together if all possible.

"I almost feel bad for these people," Toadsworth whispered to the Princess. "Well, not really Bowser but certainly folks just happening to take up residence here."

Peach nodded but didn't say anything, feeling something wrong somewhere.

"Vater! Over here!" Ludwig ambushed his family, haggard with his jacket full of holes and covered in bruises. "Might I suggest immediate retreat?" he requested authoritatively as Dark Land's secretary (at least until Junior grew up) but also with a fear he couldn't mask. Lemmy and Iggy crawled from under a pile of rubble, powdery and dusty and they held a tattered thick book and a pocket watch respectively, begging more questions.

"But what is going on? Why were you missing all night?!" Bowser couldn't help but to yell.

"We, uh, did nothing!" Ludwig's face went pale when a huge group of residents taking up the entire road marched their way, an eclectic group of goombas, koopas, and other baddies holding bats and planks of wood. "We know about your ploy to drive out the poor and disadvantaged of the land!" a goomba girl with purple hair and some facial piercings screamed through a megaphone.

"And force us to live in your communist corrupt Neo Bowser City instead! We the 'Dark Land Anti-Monarchy' won't stand for it anymore!" added a boomerang bro with a trench coat and trilby.

"No! No! No!" the group chanted.

Bowser nearly staggered backwards. "What the heck is 'communist' anyway?"

"Oooh I know these guys," Wendy said low shamefully. "Raven, Jim and some of the others? I started the 'Anti-Ma' in eighth grade when I was just listening to people on the internet instead of reading actual books and getting my history major-" Bowser cut her off by growling and the sound of his blood boiling. "Alright alright daddy. I'll just 'cancel' myself then!"

"Dat 'PC' culture of yours is balls," Roy grumbled.

Morton nodded. "Terrible. Unsatisfactory! Bullocks!… I mean bollucks!" All of the Koopalings agreed with the budding English writer, which in turn made the Anti-Mas match volume and win due to numbers.

"GAH! None of us did nothing to cause this!" Bowser declared. "Have we ever destroyed our own land? Nope and never will. Even what we did to the Toad Town yesterday wasn't.. our usual strategy." Bowser's eye's wandered to Ludwig who nearly shrunk under his gaze. "But if you're smart you'll try to get out of here with us instead of crying!"

"Oh, put a sock in it!" A pokey rebel launched a sharp spike ball that missed Bowser by inches. Then the group collectively rushed with their weapons drawn.

Everyone did an 180 and ran from where they came, even Peach and Toadsworth. The koopas kept running until they were sprinting through grass instead of red soil. The sky got bluer and the air clearer and soon they were in a sunny field, an occasional mushroom house and a river in the distance. Roy craned his neck towards the largest stone structure visible that reached into the clouds. He knew exactly where they were. They had been driven out to the bordering fifth known mushroom world, Sky Land!

"_Hey…__ Wake up!… Jelectro_?"

The noki leaned up from his side on the hard floor. Over night he couldn't sleep except for the last hour it seemed. The air was cold and there there thick iron bars in his face. With a burst of energy he sprung up to cling to them. Outside his barred window were white of a court house like building with some high rises of various brick colors in the backdrop. Poshley Heights!

"_Listen, I know you don't like this sort of thing and I wish it hadn't gone like it did, but I need you back here dude. __Where are you __exactly__?_"

"Working on it," he replied to Mitch's voice, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the sting. His things were confiscated, his glasses, the phone he risked so much to obtain with proof of the conspiracy, and the noki's ear plugs. Placebo or not, they helped him tackle the discordant voices of all living things in a radius around him. Currently some where disgruntled, others pleading, some wondering when was lunch break. What a great start for a day he thought with sarcasm quickly redacted. He picked up from the cook that on the menu his was favorite dish despite cannibalistic implications, 'escargot'!

"I had to respond when I heard of this situation from, you know, the news sources.. Speaking of which, were your injuries severe? Golly!" Captain Toad examined the red mark revealed by Mario's sleeves being rolled up. The three were on their way from the care facilities, passing by prairies and expansive ranches to head to the southern hospital. Agents sent by Peach's father were there waiting for them as well. "The inflammation's identical to what happened to Bank Toad."

Luigi gave him a blank look.

"That's why the rest of the brigade aren't with me, Mr. Luigi. During our last treasure hunt, Bank Toad slipped off of a cliff!"

Mario bumped into someone. A murmuring crowd stood in the lot outside the doors of the two story western styled edifice. He tried to see around tall cowboy hats.

"Watch and learn, partners!" Jr. Troopa came along from the side, exuberance and confidence oozing off him. Instead of using his staff or wings or his ability to grow a spike, he did some sort of a rope trick. The door was slightly ajar and so he sent the rope in and caught something big and heavy. "I got em'!" His grand show off attempt fell flat when out came a group of teeth clattering toad guards, the very elite force that was supposed to be protecting everyone.

"Save us!" the burly mushroom men squealed like children.

The janitor Probabilly leisurely left exited the hospital and kindly propped open the door for what sounded like a charging stampede. The Mushroom Flu patients in gowns spilled out, red eyed and babbling endlessly about anything from significant others, to day plans (from the previous day presumably) to the weather, repelling everyone in a panic.

"You never signed my hat, Legendary Captain!" a green capped toad screamed heading towards Luigi. The plumber leap high in the air and on a wagon to escape.

"No more homework!" A little bob-omb tackled Jr. Troopa down. The guards tied up on the dirt were powerless because the ill, especially the toads attacking with superb agression kept scattering in their rampage.

Captain Toad was hanging on a clothes line to avoid conflict, unperturbed and feet dangling. "_Typical Saturday morning_ for me..."

Finally Mario was knocked back into the wagon. It tilted over and his brother and the Captain came down with him. Once they got out of the pile of tangled fabric and wooden pieces, everything got quiet. Too quiet. The coma walk period cooled off and the sick were completely unconscious all over the ground.

"Anything else darling?" Birdo stepped up to the bed with something steaming and appetizing in a bowl. Yoshi had stayed in bed late but was now more lazy than tired. He checked the bandage on his nose and it was fine, a little tender, but nothing to keep him in all day.

"Nah. I've been through worse."

The pink dinosaur sat on the edge of his hammock and rose the spoon to his mouth. Enjoying the yoshi apple cider Yoshi relaxed among the native sounds of birds, other dinos outside the treehouse, and even his companion Poochy out in the yard below before a notification chime went off. The spoon froze.

"I'll check just in case." Yoshi leaned up and tossed the covers to her dismay that he missed from reaching around for his phone. "Whoa! I gotta head over to help out. That was a group text from Luigi. Eldstar bless his heart, but I'm glad he still doesn't know how to use his phone."

Birdo tugged on his arm, holding it there. "Are you really going to leave me again?"

"Not for long." Yoshi gently tried to remove her hand but they were like stone. "Listen to me, honey. It's not sounding good from down home. You wouldn't understand."

"Down home?" Coincidentally her diamond ring caught the light, sparkling brightly. "I DO understand that this is what our life is going to be now. A long distance! You just don't care!" she exclaimed with a tear rolling down.

Not wasting a second Yoshi pulled her close comfortingly. "No no no no no no. I'm sorry just..."

...

"Actually I did use cowboy boots once in one of Ludwig's forced ballets. He was kind of weird when he was younger. Are we done now?"

"I'm still better than you," Jr. Troopa replied, waving the plumber on. "Yep. I'd wreck ya."

Mario rolled his eyes. "I forfeit. You're better at me at square dancing." Tired of swatting away flies and muggy heat, he stood up to finalize the impromptu barn house meeting. In there were also a dozen of some curious things lined up in open stable doors, some sort of cyborg yoshi on roller wheels with a saddles, silver painted with sharp claws and red eyes. Each had a short antenna on their heads. Mario inquired what were those and why they weren't used earlier. He was told by Vick that they would have been up and running but his phone was a Mario Galaxy Note 7 and blew up in the heat that morning. So.. that was a thing. Anyway the plans were to keep the patients here in the Southern hospital, lock doors to contain them, and don't cause any trouble while he and his team take care of business.

To catch up on the rest of his crew some transport waited for Mario, a station wagon and not the all-terrain 4x4 he expected from an adventurer like Captain Toad. When he got inside Luigi was waiting. They went to 'Hotel Mario' with neon flickering lights putting the natural sun to shame as their car approached the litter filled and oily parking lot, not having improved a bit since the nineties. Mario smiled then left the car to limp in using a cane he'd acquired while his brother followed. Inside the cheap looking lobby with old paint and plastic palm trees lining the faded carped leading to the desk maned by a goomba in an over sized tie, were colorful and blaring slot machines lining the walls.

"Aye! Mario and Luigi!" the clerk greeted like he knew them. He didn't. "Interested in a stay or.. uhh..our other services?"

The brothers split and Mario approached slowly.

Goomba eyes shifted from left to right. "..Jump Man, you're looking rough. I got an import from Rogueport and it'll fix you right up."

Luigi poked his head into the recreation room attached and was shocked. The toads of Peach's castle were all at long tables with game boards and empty plates of food from breakfast. A mini ninja with a mic read off the numbers robotically and the toads were very into it. He cleared his throat loudly.

"We were just trying to raise money to fix Peach's castle!" Toadette flushed.

"I repent!" Buckenberry tossed his board aside dramatically, red paper dots flung into the air. "Take me with you Luigi!"

"Stay!" Toadette snapped at him like a pet trainer.

"How's Gold?" Luigi noticed the yellow toad in their adventures with his head down on the table resting. It was bandaged up, but 'Ala-Gold' gave a thumbs up so it was time begrudgingly to move on.

"They're okay in there, just 'gaming'. Of course I'd be the one to do your work again," Luigi whispered down the back of Mario when they met back in the lobby. Mario was still at the desk and in fact the goomba was still spouting out details of some product as they were leaving.

"Don't start anything little brother, I'd just had to turn down twenty offers for 'essential mushroom oils' that are supposed to cure everything."

"Don't start what?" Luigi replied icily, contrasting the heat wave they walked into outside. "You invited Bowser to the club leading to this in the first place. Meanwhile I was out there busting my tail tracking down Zoo Diddley and we've lost Boo and Yoshi because of that!"

Mario stopped walking but didn't face back. "Bowser found me when I was finding Peach who shouldn't have ran off!"

"Blame everyone but yourself. You have an attachment to that monster so just face it!"

Kylie Koopa ran up the sidewalk waving for them. "Sup, fellas! Did I interrupt? No? Good. Bowser's goons last night tried to give me the shake down, would ya believe?"

"Kylie, we're busy."

"Right," Luigi agreed in a forced manner. His phone began going off and he fumbled around, then Mario's then Kylie's. Everyone checked their either email or text message.

"Re: Dr. Toadley: Toad and Daisy just discharged themselves by coma walking?" Mario read out loud.

"And they're causing a ruckus alright!" Kylie added. "My boss Steve just messaged that he's currently trapped in his car with Toad and Daisy jumping on top of it! I'll follow you guys!"

A remote push button fob revved up a silver Aston Mushroom car parked on the sidewalk. She made no effort to explain where it came from or the numerous scratches and dents on it from some altercation. Not finding it worth it to shoo her off at this point, all of them sped to the Mushroom Press where there was a scene in the four lane wide streets. There were three toads in all, including their Toad plus Daisy and a yoshi girl all over the place diverting traffic away. Toad and Daisy stood on top of a car swinging around two broken street signs left and right, like for an imaginary tennis game using Steve the Bullet bill as the ball.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" the reporter wailed as Captain Toad drove past very gingerly to the annoyance of the Mario bros and Kylie tailgating.

Mario hopped out the moving car and rolled hard. Toad and Daisy took one glace at him and jumped off the car to make him the next ball. It was like their scheduled rematch was right now as Mario got whacked by the aluminum stop and yield signs. Luigi dashed out to wrestle away the sign from Daisy but she put up a tug-o-war match with him.

"Enough.. digging up my backyard.. dawg!" Daisy grunt with some super strength.

"Daisy it's me snap out of iiiiiit!" Luigi yelled, struggling while Mario retrained Toad.

"Nothing gets between me and my free pizza!" Toad cried, squirming out of Mario's grasp.

Kylie dropped next to her boss on the sidewalk. "Steve! You stayed up for sixty-four hours once when we were short staffed, brother. You can't give up now!"

"Just write your story," he told her softly. "And take this." Wadded up in his pocket were some scrap papers.

Luigi got kicked by the princess, falling on his back. Daisy rose the sign up above like a wild crazy woman and slammed down, but something snatched it right out of her palms. She swung empty air at Luigi and lost her balance, careening right on top of him. Booigi the Second appeared in the spot almost like a vision, holding the sign while smiling slyly. They then pried Toad off of Mario and everything was looking up before Booigi forgot about the other three patients. The two toads and yoshi girl pulled the cover off a fire hydrant, drenching the street and sending their small bodies up into the air many feet, eventually landing them on the roofs of the shops lining the road. From there the frenzied state resumed, the patients flinging down bricks, air ducts, and more from the rooftops and down on any pedestrians and the parked cars. Car alarms went off and realizing they'd made things worse, Booigi disappeared.

Captain Toad then decided to do something, to take care of a problem no one knew about yet. The station wagon cruising around made an abrupt U-turn to strike two pedestrians on the sidewalk with black trench coats on. They were launched right on Steve's car, smashing out the windows with a mighty clash just as the Captain meant with his adroit little plan. Their identities were revealed as a fire and hammer bro, spies of the Koopa Troop, and they moaned in pain while the all patients dropped unconscious again, the coma walking timing out. Luigi pulled up from the ground with the princess in a sleeping state on his lap. He'd not mind this in any other circumstance..

Soon they were back at the Toadley Clinic where the escapees originated and the decision was made to relocate them south. The intern thanked them repeatedly while Dr. Toadley remained silent and only nodded. The place was torn up to sheds and the intern apologized for that too. Toadley's work station was being held up by stacks of books and his laptop was currently on fire. The beds were in shambles and magazines were on the floors. Windows were covered in tape. Mario shook the doctors hand and almost left before he spoke up.

"Ah. Did I forget to tell you something? Yes I did. Some Special World Hospital colleges are personally coming HERE!"

Mario whipped around. "Here? With Koopa Troop SPIES infiltrating the city?" He marched right out to Luigi, the Captain, and Kylie waiting. "Change of plans. We can't all go after Bowser because those doctors are returning and of course the koopa's goons will want to sabotage them."

"That does make sense, Mr. Mario." Captain Toad's glance lingered on Luigi. "Perhaps someone should stick behind. My car can reach up to sixty."

"Why? The speed limit in the city is way less."

Luigi gave a start, facing Mario. "You're not going to rescue Peach?"

Mario pulled his brother aside, away from prying eyes. "I feel like that time I was molded into a pinball shape and launched into Bowser's Castle. If I go out now I doubt I'll be able to stomp a single goomba."

"So you think I can do this without you.."

"You're right about yesterday, okay? I guess I get too focused on the big picture sometimes and by the big picture I mean-"

"Bowser."

"Yeah.." Silence lasted for a second but it felt longer.

"Well, I got your back, bro." Luigi felt much of his bitterness ebb away, compelled to step up even if he didn't expect a 'thank you' for it later. That was just life. So they rejoined the others and gave a quick rundown.

…

"Hello?.." Mario chuckled at the extreme reaction he got on the other end, Bowser going wild and such. Kylie was giving him a quick ride. "We have to keep up our ritual! Just a reminder: you might wanna tie up any loose ends you have real soon."

"I don't have time to chat with hairy faced freaks like you!" Bowser had lots of noise in the background like a wind tunnel with ugly chants of 'row row row' added to it. "Gotta wedding to plan and I'm gonna invite a lot of people. Not you though!"

"Will you invite your spies in the city? Hopefully not because they aren't in any shape to travel now!"

"YEAH PLUMBER!? Don't matter, it's all coming together anyway. Here's a preview." In the background he could hear Peach in distress from something before the line cut. Mario angrily tossed his phone out the window but hadn't noticed the car had stopped and they were back down South. The phone landed in a watering basin for moo moos and he had to fish it out.

Finally alone, Kylie sat in the car and checked those notes. It was Steve's latest story based on foreign nations. Sarasaland, formed of four vast and great lands were ruled by four generals and the princess Daisy. With Daisy in town that would make four in charge currently, so why did Steve's report count five anyway?

...

"Because we paid a good amount for the convenience a while back." Luigi exited from the passenger seat and went to the front door of his house.

"But I can go up to-"

"Yeah, I know, sixty. Hold on."

Captain Toad held on tightly to the steering wheel in a rigid anxious state until Luigi came back out with his bag of power-ups and motioned him to come to the backyard. There were the seven pipes erected in the grass, each labeled 'Warp Zone'.

"Some people decorate with bird baths, or plants, or swings. We have a way to get places so we can save the day once a week," Luigi explained. "What do you think, Stan?"

"Interesting. And it's Captain Toad," he corrected quickly. Luigi only knew his real name because they shared a night school class years ago. Since then he'd determined he'd never be 'Stan Luke Toad' again, just the Captain. He only stuck with these unorganized plans because it was what Toad Toad would do, that and for the princess of course. And maybe treasure.

They took the pipe to World 8, Luigi never liked the dark and murky path but it was quick. Tumbling out of the exit pipe they found a barren wasteland on the other side. Luigi noticed the drooping and crumbling head that formed Bowser's Castle entrance. They ran up to find a very fresh and crisp torn out notebook page nailed to a broken column of stone.

"_Hello, greetings, salutations, dear visitor! We, the family of __King __Bowser __Koopa__, the master of the land and __hopefully__ your liege rulers __have officially left the land forever! Indefinitely! Permanently! We are now stationed in Sky Land, World 5 so if you are a stranded, __forlorn__ soldier please report there soon, quickly, expediently! _

_-Your prince, Morton Koopa Jr._

_(__W__ith different penmanship) __-__Also me, the para-__goomba__ that risked my life sending this message back. I deserve some recognition here don't I? My name is.. __Paragoomba. Sweet name right?_"

Then the words faded off. Puzzled, he backpedaled into the Captain.

Captain Toad bent down to some large clawed footprints then examined expansive swirl patterns etched in the soil. "There was a tornado, but something is rather unnatural about it. Regardless it caused the exodus obviously."

...

A delivery truck fresh off of the boat that transported it there left deep tire marks through Sirena beach until it reached Hotel Delfino and took up three parking spots. Two sumo bros stepped inside, one dressed like a sci-fi character with a neon green katana and the other in a highly detailed dragon costume. Naturally large by species, these two were ever wider and less athletic than usual making the desk clerk pianta do a double take.

"Brahs! The Dungeons and Koopas-Con was last week! You missed it."

"Aaaactually we are here because we know about the hotttt babes week coming up, hehe.." the first brother, Sam, spoke after sliding up his thick eye glasses.

The clerk in turn slid up his. It was weird how that was contagious, kind of like yawning. "Sooo how long you want your stay? You have your papers, brah?"

"I do," piped up Slam, the younger more nasally sounding brother/dragon. He handed some over and they were most certainly not legible. "Forgive we. The darkness encroached us whilst smuggled on that boat."

"And it stank too!" Sam piped up.

They got their room booked way at the top floor. Entire elevators were hogged and many bellhops hauled lots of their prized memorabilia for their extended stay. The brothers relished in the fact that they, typically the mules of Bowser whenever he remembered that they owned shipping trucks, escaped the windstorms that stirred up if the rumors were true. They would stay here with all the money they'd saved up by scalping vintage videogames forever and still play with friends online. (It wasn't like they got outside anyway). They ordered everything on the menu from room service and went to their vices, Sam was on a console game and Slam playing a table top game against himself. The window light got dimmer so Sam looked outdoors. People scattered down below on the beach like ants while an unidentified object blocked the light from the sun.

"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR REWARD!" the thunder seemed to speak.

The palm trees bent and twisted and dust from sand blew in the air as hurricane like forces came from the clear sky. The building rumbled, knocking over Slam's plastic character figures on the board. The power was now out and others screamed in the halls. A tidal wave almost as tall as the hotel sped their way and crashed against the building sweeping the hotel away. It wouldn't take long for the news to spread: Disaster at paradise.

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Created: 6/17/19, 6/18 , 6/19, 6/20, 6/23, 6/24, 6/25, 6/26, 6/27, 6/30, 7/7, 7/9**

**Edits: 7/19, 7/22, 7/28, 7/29, 7/30, 7/31, 8/3, 8/21, 8/25, 8/29, 8/30, 8/31, 9/13, 9/23**


	11. Property of Bowser

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**Property of Bowser (Chapter 11)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo.**

* * *

"Let's GO! Get out there! DO SOMETHING!" Bowser commanded.

Scampering around the green hills koopa troopas frightened all toads taking residence out, allowing the Troop to secure an entire region of Sky Land to plunder. Many resources would be needed starting from scratch to they worked quickly. Aerially the winged baddies soared in clusters to reconnoiter the land. Satisfied with the group (and it truly was more than he expected) of soldiers smart enough to read the sign posted on his castle's crumbling front doors, Bowser returned to the spiraling landmark tower. It rose into another portion of the kingdom he was yet grace with his presence. Bowser climbed inside a puny airship that could fit a half dozen, the mantra of 'row row row' from before sickening so he made a solo trip with only himself and this thoughts of how all his troubles were Mario's fault. Somehow it always came back to that plumber, like a part of Mario was always with him. A part Bowser would like to rip out and obliterate with fire and brimstone..

Still shuddering, Tanner lowered the basket of ice flowers and speed flowers, now scorched flowers. He guessed it was his fault for talking to Bowser while he was clearly in a reverie. "If you don't like these, sorry sir!"

"Forget the stupid decorations. Since you're here, all status?" Bowser growled. Sulking on his throne salvaged from his old castle and in one of the most isolated parts of the tower he could find, he was sure his minions would get the picture. Apparently not.

"Most never showed up because they 'went south' boss," reported Sentry 11, significantly less menacing in broad daylight. "But this is a big kingdom and you got a thousand tallied."

Bowser stomped his foot repeatedly and the brick began to crumble. "Go back to where you need to be. NOW!" And they left.

On the tower's roof top that stopped just short of the puffy white clouds it was like family night in a twisted way, complete with inappropriate tales being told even if unintentionally. The royal honorary Koopa Troop all hung out for fresh air and it was almost relaxing before Morton got a little too curious about how last night went.

"So our janitor Zoo is dead? Perished? Deceased?" In that moment Morton ran out of fingernails to bite.

"Yeah and angry mobs came around by morning blaming us," Lemmy explained dramatically. All he needed was a flashlight to shine under his face and a thunder effect, but it was day time so that would be dumb he realized. "Aaaand we had to hide. How did it happen you say?" The rainbow haired koopaling paused sort of awkwardly, a hint of guilt underneath. "We don't really know."

Roy pretended to not listen. He kept waving formations for the paratroopas above to perform advance maneuvers since he'd be invading the castle with a squad Bowser selected for him because he begged so much to do it. It took five minutes for him to realize they were spelling out the name of his last ex girlfriend and so he yelled at them the rest of the time. Junior was leaning on his elbows looking down from the tower and watching little people below. He wondered how his scouting skills could help so he wandered off secretly.

Wendy, who was rolled on her stomach jumped up. "Now it's all over Facebook now that we left Dark Land due to a Bowser Bomb gone wrong! Well we all know that's FAKE NEWS so I'm going to report all of their accounts and I need you all to help me!"

Ludwig, trying to be invisible before that point, felt a pit in his stomach threatening to grow into an inescapable black hole. Maybe he really dreamed up last night and he was blaming himself for nothing. He needed a reality check and reluctant to admit it there was someone he could always count on for clarity, even if a few coarse words would often get thrown into the mix.

"Larry, could you assist me?" Ludwig approached Larry while he was listening to music habitually and directed him to a moisture faded page of his_ '__Ex spatio obiecti specialem Lexico__n'_.

Larry slung the headphones off with an attitude already. "Stars: Stars are celestial beings, a 'higher authority' to aid the Mushroom Kingdom-" He shoved the book back into Ludwig's chest. "I know this junk already. Why a theology project now?"

"I was just curious! How would you know? Are you secretly studious?" Ludwig snatched it back, brows down turned. Roy and Wendy shunned Larry with a snort of disapproval.

"-Say that again and I'll slap ya!" Larry rebutted. "I just, uh, heard it through the grape vine.."

Leaving with a sigh he strolled past Iggy isolated from the others with that watch salvaged from Zoo's home disassembled on the ground, multicolored wires outstretched and resembling a sort of monster on the stone floor. "You know what happened back home was pretty messed up," Iggy told him in a less squeaky and more naturalistic tone. "But I gotta keep working on this, Luddy. I can't get Lemmy's wrist watch out of my head."

Ludwig took the time to crouch down with him. "The one that was drawn on his wrist? You described it as 'time stopping'.."

"It might be important."

"Need any-"

"No no, go ahead to Poshley Heights to claim your badge or whatever! It'll be alright in the end."

Ludwig pat him on the shoulder. "I believe you. In fact you are like a prophet to me now." As droll as those words were coming from him he stood up with renewed zeal for his trip even if for the least logical reason ever, that being that Iggy didn't tell him to not go. He would take a quick train and return just in time for his father's wedding, hopefully with new valor.

A toad with a scarlet scarf wrapped around them tightly inched their way over a hill. The koopatrol stationed at the north boarder felt on edge meeting them adjacent to the newly erected gate. Tanner volunteered look out duty because he needed space and his heart ached from everything that had happened, the displacement, lack of supplies, losing his friend Zoo, his home, even that new toad girl-

"What's up?" the woman greeted with an air of familiarity.

He dropped his spear ecstatically. "Emery! You're okay!"

Bowser's one-thousand and first soldier ran up, winded as she clung to him. "I know about the castle and all that. Neo Bowser City is a mess with these weird dorks taking over so I got here however I could. I borrowed this car."

"Uh.. where?" Tanner scanned around.

A wide bodied black colored limousine was stuck in a low hanging cloud down the hill. His herculean strength plus her lesser but earnest effort eventually pushed it up and over the other side for it to roll freely and crash into the gate and then keep on going, making others wonder where the heck it came from. Tanner held his breath until Emery burst into laughter. Soon he joined her, fears draining.

Yoshi was outside in the high grass playing with Poochy, occasionally waving to neighboring yoshis going about business. He tossed back and forth the stick to buy time until he thought Birdo would be less angry. She could be overbearing but her motivations ran true, just stop to enjoy life.

"Isn't that right, boy?" Yoshi's friend licked his face and barked happily. "Poochy! Stop! Ha!"

When Yoshi returned 'the misses' was out, odd because he didn't see her leave. A little deviously he let the dog in since typically his fiancee hated that. He noticed she'd left her iPhone on the counter and its screen was on from a missed notification. Picking it up he caught some of the national news on the lock screen.

"Bowser spotted in Sky Land? Isle Delfino hit by typhoon?" The phone slipped from his hand while he scampered around looking for his things to leave with, a hat, passes, snacks.. Poochy barked and snarled at the door before circling around. The front door was kicked opened and Birdo stepped in, her attention darting to her phone on the floor unlocked.

"Yoshi!" She scooped it up with a pout as something began to brew within her.

Yoshi's head popped up from the drawer. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop honey, but that's besides the point now. I HAVE to go." He weaved around her before she had a chance for an excuse. He grabbed his hat from the rack and his bag, but it was too light. Yoshi froze with a foot out the door.

"Can't leave Yoshi's Island without a passport, T. Yoshisaur."

Wisely facing out the door while doing this, he rolled his eyes. "...I'm coming back, okay?"

"But you can't leave without that passport," she repeated, foot tapping the floor.

"I've left the island without it plenty of times even if you're not supposed to. I'm not a slave to rules."

"Of course not when you list your residence as the Mushroom Kingdom to evade taxes, bring your dog inside, and tick off your girlfriend! I'm telling the village leader about everything!"

"Baby!" Yoshi tried to approach and as their pet yapped in between them.

"Stay away! Just stay away!" Birdo screamed, pushing him away and calling someone up.

Yoshi darted through the jungle paths as quick as he could. If she riled up the village leader there could soon be a herd of fifty or more fellow dinos after him. He found a train passing through at a crossing and flutter jumped into a car, landing in a pile of hay. He spat out the twigs and examined his surroundings, old props and banners saying 'Emerald Circus'. It smelt like it too. Then he peeked into the next cart and there were a few tramps seated. He went into what he thought was the most vacant car until an old koopa troopa who he hadn't noticed seated in plain clothes locked eyes with him.

"I guess Mario sent you to hunt me down and stomp my face, Yoshi?"

Yoshi plopped down next to him. "No I'm.. running from my own bride," he replied emptily.

"I know that feeling. I'm practically married to trouble." Doctor Professor Koopa smiled. He held his shoulder and had stubble spotting the corners of his face, but was otherwise just as yesterday. "What am I doing in here? Getting to Sarasaland one way or the other, even if it's bad for my back, heh."

"..I really shouldn't let you get a clean getaway."

"Funny there's a line to cross to become the dreaded 'bad guy'. What if I told you that I was a 'good guy' saving the lives of five times that many decades ago partnering with Dr. Mario? Which registers more on the scale of good and evil? I know something most don't and never learn..."

Yoshi knew he was being baited, but he couldn't stop pressing further like how Tap-Taps ran off of cliffs. "I'm not getting it. You did what?"

"I'm not credited because I'm actually Theodore V. Koopa. I was a Dr. Koopa to Peach as a little girl, got shafted by her father then became Prof. Koopa to young adult Bowser as the Mushroom Flu broke out. Ah. Now you know where my pseudonym comes from. Don't you feel smart?"

Yoshi stood up, repulsed from head to toe. "Your point gets muddled when you're a slimy crook."

Letting the insult bounce off of him, Doctor Professor leisurely directed his attention out the window while high brown grass scrolled by. With a bump, the train began to cross a bridge over water. "You don't want to challenge the good and evil binary but let me tell you I've worked on _both_ sides. One person's good is another's evil and who sets what's what?"

Yoshi paused. "It is set because.. Good is is.. good." He flushed.

The koopa did a creepy little laugh and scraped the dinosaur's ear drums. "I believe even you are aware of how inadequate a response that was. I've also studied psychology and my notion must have given you that mid life crisis look you're wearing. Bet you've been making it for a while-"

Yoshi grabbed the koopa doctor and dragged him up to his level. "Okay, so I didn't get your riddle it doesn't mean you understand anything about me. My friends may die because of Bowser- and you!"

"In the universe good things and bad things happen without favoritism," the doctor struggled to answer collectively with Yoshi squeezing so hard. Then he put on a smirk. "But I will admit, that's what all of you mushroom bastards deserve and I wouldn't take it back!"

Yoshi slammed him halfway out the window so that he dangled upside down. One each side of the tracks were only deep gravel filled pits. "Here's a puzzle for you! Is this a 'good' act or a 'bad' one?"

"Yoshi! Don't let me gooooo!" he screeched as the dinosaur let him go. He tucked into his shell too late, falling on the back of his head against wooden planks flipping and tumbling down to the bottom of the trenches. Speedily as the train traveled, the koopa was out of view and Yoshi numbly slid away from the window. What had he done? Was it good to kill a bad guy? Suddenly that was the most monumental question he'd ever though about.

A bowl little edible land snails was dropped on the table before the noki seated himself alone, thinking about whatever to keep his mind busy, nursery rhymes like 'Une Souris Verte' to that dog he and Agent N were going to adopt back home. High barbed iron fences caged him in with the others, hooligans and gangs, during lunch break outside with the sounds of plastic utensils scraping against like trays frequent. There was a single south and north guard stationed and three barriers separating him from a Poshley Heights shopping center with a food cart and all. That must have been entertaining for tourists in town.

"To think, something worse than hospital food.." Jelectro picked up from the next table over. Nass, a shy guy, another toad, and a whomp from Mushroom Kingdom Hospital huddled together at one table. He stood to join them as friendly as he could, watching them gawk.

"Madam, thank you for those directions to the information station," he said to the elder toad, '(Mariam?)' as he'd just bothered to learn.

Her face sparkled in recognition. "Dearie! How-?!"

"Tourist, remember? I kid. Still planning that getaway to Sarasaland?"

The whomp, Dr. Terrace, sized him up and down. "You're the extra that was dragged here. He ain't one of us."

"One of you? You are all from Dark Land," Jelectro remarked.

Nass sighed with her arms stretched out across the table. Her black hair was messy, utterly miserable looking. "Theodore told you, right?"

"You shouldn't have been doing those favors for him," teased Azul, the blue shy guy. Mariam punched the young man much bigger than her rather unfitting for an eighty year old.

"I can get us all out of here if you listen," Jelectro explained in a low but convincing voice. "Escort me out while disguised as a guard. The rest will fall into place. I know you can, because you are not a toad at all!"

With a poof so quick only those at the table could perceive it, the toad became a being covered with white bed sheet like clothe. Yellow frightened eyes and a tuft of red hair were the only distinguishing features. "Okay, you got me! I just wanted better job opportunities twenty five years ago!"

Nass, Azul, and Dr. Terrace were astonished for only a moment, then it was back to moping. Nothing excited them, they really were from Dark Land. Jelectro guessed they would just have to see it to believe it. Mariam became a toad guard at the detective's lead, quickly enough to avoid suspicion and walked together to the gate early.

"What's wrong with the runt?" The guard barked, his hand already on a radio for backup.

"I'm sick," Jelectro answered weakly. The noki drooped over and puked right on the concrete and inches away from the guards shiny black boots. The guard reeled back along with the other two closest guards.

"Get him out of here!" they screamed at once, almost dry heaving.

Jelectro and Miriam ran through the first gate and in the little clearance. Ahead next gate was even taller than the rest with more guards. "I didn't know you were sick," the dooplighost whispered, starting to feel concerned.

"It's just a bio-manipulation," Jelectro explained, already putting the next phase into action and directing his attention to the guards manning the office next to the doors out.

"It's Zip Toad!" a guard on lookout squealed. Guards rushed out the office and unchained the second lock to line up against the most outer fence as the celebrity strolled by. They did this so hurriedly they left the doors to the office wide open, allowing Jelectro to slip in and see the rows of steel lockers with confiscated items. He told Mariam to stay with the other guards and pretend to care so she did so.

"What is your proudest achievement?" the warden, huddled with many others, asked Zip T.

The blond toad celebrity lingering around the food cart stopped and pointed to his self in bewilderment. "Me? When I first outran all five of 'em MKABC or whatever health inspectors." he answered in a low raspy tone. "Especially the big ol' goomba called Richard. He was crazy. Now watch this! Grilled straight from my trailor home!" He grabbed a 'Boggles Dogs' from the cart, extra stuffed with cheese and crammed the entire thing down his throat. Many of the guards gasped again when the star fell over choking.

"Somebody do something! He's my idol!" one screamed.

"I don't know CPR. Any doctors in the house?"

"Over there!" Mariam spoke up, pointing to the MK East doctors back in the eating court.

"We can't let inmates.. oh whatever! Open the gates and let them!" the senior warden ordered.

The staff got shoved away from their tables out the gates to aid the blonde super star sprawled out on the sidewalk turning blue while. Disorientated but aware of civic duty they surrounded him just as a flash went off. 'Zip T.' coughed and miraculously a grubby clubba in a rain beater appeared in his place.

"Oh!" Nass exclaimed, piecing it all with her clever mind. "Some sort of illusion or ruse. Go!"

"Thanks but sorry!" Apologetically Mariam ran ahead with the doctors onto the clubba's food truck. The guards realized the break and spilled out of the jail building in vain as the truck sped down the finely cut brick road. Jelectro was brushed aside and ignored in the drama, all according plan.

Mere minutes after Roy's army of one-hundred stormed the clouds above, his soldiers were kicking out remaining mushroom retainers and last the king, an old frail man still in slippers if it wasn't more obvious the kingdom was blindsided by the invasion. Two hammer bros escorted the King to Roy.

"Remember when I promised to return years back? I was telling da truth! Now I run dis joint!" the koopaling laughed. Roy got to enjoy the plush red seat and the exquisite gold and checkerboard halls in peace for all of five minutes before someone barged in.

"Great job, Roy. Everyone GO GO GO!" Bowser ushered in as many minions as could be packed inside, busily stepping all over Roy's feet with supplies in hand and banners. Shortly they forced him off and on to the floor.

Bowser kept barking orders. "This castle gonna be the wedding hall. Hey, no I want fruit punch there! You! Drop the ice sculpture here! Kamek, you're holding the ruler upside down.."

Disgruntled but expecting as much, Roy stomped out into the clouds and down to the tower to go back to DMing girls he guessed or he could sneak peeks at Peach who was getting fitted for her dress in a locked room of the tower. Decisions decisions!

"You like to swim right?" Wendy showed off a sleeveless flowing dress that was also flowing with water from the hose attachment. It was a beach inspired, blue as the ocean with real starfish attached and squirming.

"You don't like it? Our dear Clawdia wore this one anniversary, you know!" Kammy lectured nostalgically.

Peach politely declined, a captive in a stranger way than usual, seated down perturbed and uncomfortably on a stool. At least she had lots of time to mull over it all. She missed her hero. If she (and him to be honest) acted a little more like adults yesterday she might not be in this predicament but.. it had to be this way she concluded. Kammy next presented something very vintage and regal and white with a crinoline many times her width. Peach estimated it might be her style in oh, about fifty more years.

"...I'm telling!" Bowser Junior snickered right outside the door they were in.

Larry, crouched down at the keyhole nearly wet himself. He made sure they were alone. "Shhh! It ain't what you think! We can't let this happen!"

"Daddy's wedding?"

Larry poked Junior's chest right between his badges. "That's right! If dad marries it's gonna suck for all of us. Us runts gotta, you know, cooperate."

Junior snapped his childish fingers. "Ooooh like that thing people do after their married? I don't know about that but I'll help."

Larry went blank before his face wrinkled up and he almost barfed. "Eww. COOPERATE not 'consummate'!... It's good that you're here 'cause I just thought of something… NO not that!"

The next dress was an avant-garde piece by a foreign koopa featured six arm holes, two trains, and a waste line suspended by suspenders, detailed by flashing jewels and the pattern of a funeral home's curtains. Peach's saving grace, the door clicked open and in came Bowser Junior smiling cheekily.

"King Dad wanted to take some early pictures with the bride." The six year old reached out his arm for Peach so adorable like she almost didn't resist.

"More time for us to make it perfect!" Wendy dragged her little brother out with Peach. "But get her back here soon enough, okay brat?"

Junior stuck his tongue out in return, leading Peach to the bottom of the tower. Questioning soldiers said nothing for good reason with how loud Junior could get if not spoiled rotten. On the ground they found a limousine waiting and Larry rolled down the automatic window all cool like with a chauffeur hat on and all. Toadsworth was already in the back and 'transferring him to the mines' was the excuse Larry used to procure him.

"Get in," he spoke as low as he could. Peach became quietly ecstatic. While trying to not look too comfortable she got in the passenger seat with Junior crawling into the middle between them. He cruised away from the tower and they were turning heads where ever they rolled in the grass, as there were no streets built yet. Larry increased speed as he drove by a new fortress build site. Morton handled the blue prints with his remarkable speed reading. One glance and he'd memorized all the details from the size of a bolt to the slab of concrete needed. Lemmy's lazy eye gave him double vision frequently so it made the best choice, but it also meant he spotted two copies of Larry plainly escaping with the princess for triple the heart rate increase and quadruple the urgency to stop it.

"Catch that car!" Lemmy blared.

Zealously their builders including the monty mole controlling the crane abandoned the site to give chase. A huge block of stone swung around and into the wall newly constructed with a crash. The wall adjacent disconnected and mounted on it were the Bowser family chests, heirlooms and treasures. Morton dove forward just as the wall leaned down and caught it so that it didn't crack open the centuries old keepsakes.

"Run ahead! Expediently! Godspeed!" Morton strained under the weight as Lemmy rolled across steep hills becoming larger and more arduous as they went. Larry kept on and Peach held the coat rack to stabilize, fearing how they'd make it all the way across the kingdom with the mob behind them and the car struggling with the incline. Peach didn't know about motors much but she feared that backfire every five seconds wasn't a good sign.

Meanwhile Bowser had the castle's main room decorated with tables and arrangements about 109 percent there (He was never good with fractions). That meant- the Koopa king counted on his claws, only forty-three to go before he'd be happy. They installed an ice sculpture of himself and a lava fountain across from each other. He approved until a table clothe caught fire.

"Ahhg! Why didn't I see that coming?!" Bowser exclaimed.

"On it!" Tanner hurled himself on the flames to snuff it out.

Bowser gave a thumbs up. "Great! You always were the best."

Tanner smiled back despite the pain.

"Who's gonna make me this?" Bowser waved around the scrap of paper with his measurements. Fangirl? Are you a qualified seamstress for the King of Dark- I mean Sky Land?" Bowser addressed the toad girl who rose her hand.

"Nope, but I watched a Youtube video once!" Emery held up pins and yarn.

The work kept going until it started getting a little darker outside. Bowser called all his children up and even the princess to see the work so far and he waited, the weather getting worse all the while. Finally the wind could be heard howling through the walls so Bowser stepped outdoors to find everything shady and darkened. He craned his neck to see an object blocking out the sun. "The heck?!"

Right then Roy and Wendy came running up, sending up poofs of clouds with every frantic step. "Daddy! Daddy! That brat Junior didn't bring Peach back!" Wendy screamed.

"And that punk Larry took the our new car!" Roy yelled.

Bowser whipped their way just as a thunder like voice came out of the sky. It seemed like mumbling from a giant. Wind roaring, Bowser and everything around were swept right off of their feet. He only caught, "...REWARD!"

Back on the ground, Larry continued to flee from the horde as the weather aggravated until he could hardly see. Bowser Junior dropped a banana peel through the sunroof which slipped up Lemmy and caused a small pile up, at least they thought by the amount of grunting in pain they were doing. They burst through a boarder to some other kingdom and the princess could taste the freedom. Toadsworth in the bench seats covered his eyes before noticing the brandy in the drawer. He took a sip, not regretting a thing. Now they were reaching forest with no accompanying path for the car. That didn't stop Larry though, he'd never win backwoods drag races if he paid attention to 'safety'. What stopped him instead was an object causing the limousine bump off of something, hydroplane and then get wedged in a tree tilted upwards. The car shook violently for a minute and then it was over, the area around them brightening up. The land was as flat and barren as Dark Land. All of Bowser's minion's work was ruined, the fortress crumbled, the tower was damaged heavily, and in the skies above the castle had taken a brunt of the hit and only the foundation was left in the clouds. Bowser himself was still flailing, his life flashing before his eyes falling from the sky. He curled up defensively until he landed somewhere in Giant Land's forest...

"Larry, what were you doing? This is the most jerk thing you've ever.. Jerked!… I didn't mean it like that! Ugh!" Red faced, Lemmy yanked opened the door on the drivers side. The car was still between two willow trees and all four passengers were fine, aside from their underwear. The surviving members of Bowser's forces surrounded them.

"You will be going with us to find King Dad," Lemmy told them very stern like. Wendy, Roy, and even Morton were there and not happy.

"That's right, shrimp! March!" Roy kicked Larry into the forest. Peach and Toadsworth were detained and the surviving army marched on. They found Bowser easily by first finding his junk. He'd lost his phone which was now dead, the tie he was getting fitted with, and an extra sign saying 'this land _property of Bowser_', like a treasure map all leading to a clearance with a small crater marking his spot.

"WHY WERE YOU IN A CAR WITH OUR CAPTIVES DRIVING AWAY?!" Bowser bellowed the moment he came to.

Larry sat on his butt dumbfounded before an explanation that came natural to him slipped out. "I was trying to be a pimp?"

Bowser held his aching head. "Report!"

"Sire we lost everything," a koopa troopa reported.

Then Bowser spotted a part of what was going to be his new tuxedo flowing freely in the wind. Something rung over and over in his mind, the weird talking or voice in the clouds. No he had to have imagined it, so back to square one. Of course… they were already in a fresh new world to pillage…

Luigi and Captain Toad were stopped outside the warp pipes in the back of the Mario bros house. The plans (after some bickering) were to go to Sky Land but Mario texted Luigi urgently they were beckoned instead to Southern Mushroom Kingdom once more. Soon the younger Mario brother knew why, a blacked out helicopter had landed in a prairie and moo moos were grazing in the midst of it. A particular barn seemed like a ufo spectacle, a green glow radiating through the windows and in between the wood paneling.

Luigi nervously stepped up. Inside, an X-naut PhD was adjusting a large green tube while four other doctors were crowded at a table. There was also a normal toad, a hammer bro, and a goomba with Mario who spun around when Luigi came in.

"Bro? Perfect. We need all of this stuff for the cure." Mario handed over a list. Luigi held it up and it unfolded many times until it touched the floor. There had to have been nearly a hundred or more ingredients on it...

* * *

**To be continued.**

**Created: 6/26/19, 6/27, 6/29, 6/30, 7/1, 7/4, 7/5, 7/7**

**Edit: 7/26, 7/31, 8/4, 8/30, 8/31, 9/1, 9/13, 9/18, 9/24**


	12. Arcane Gang Symbol

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**A****rcane Gang Symbol (****Chapter 12****)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

* * *

"Stardust, Black apple, bros flower, ice flower, cake mix, carrot, cobalt shard, coconut bomb, mango, dayzee syrup, dayzee tear.." Luigi stopped to catch his breath. He wasn't even halfway down and the paper just kept unfolding around his feet, around Mario's two left feet, over Captain Toad's head, out of the door..

"The list would be more succinct if we had Dr. Mario's documentation when he tackled this issue in Dark Land." Dr. Toad was simply a toad in a doctors coat, flat demeanor and dry monotone commanding some respect and implying an air of seniority compared to the others.

Right then the X-naut slipped off of the rounded edge tube as high as the ceiling and fell into hay sending it up in the air.

"Morris! Careful!" warned the hammer brother in a tie-dye colored coat, Dr. Topper. Dr. Goom, a shady goomba was off in the corner with eyes glued to a white board oblivious to any antics abound in a way that made it known he was always like that.

"What's that crazy contraption for anyway?" Luigi asked.

"To infuse the cure I think..." Mario pulled his brother side to a quiet corner. "About those old notes? Don't ask how I know but Bowser has it somewhere stashed with other treasured items. I bet his family still has it with them and if you could find it-"

The barn doors opened wide with Jr. Troopa standing in the middle. "Cavalry's here and ready 'cause of my training!" Outside were Peach's toads, a few of the southern nurses and staff volunteering, Dr. Toadley's intern representing him, and least expectantly to Mario's request post on the Toad Town message boards, former MK East staff member Dave the pilot.

The boom boom whipped off his sunglasses stylishly. "I really like to fly helicopters. Just let me know where to go and I'll do it. Ka-pow!"

Mario clasped his hands together with a bright smile. "Perfect!"

Luigi silently stood back letting his brother get the attention, yawning and biting back any hints of jealousy when in the corner of his eye he noticed a familiar yet foreign face from the farthest reaches of the group. Their eyes locked and the person bolted.

"Buddy! Wait!" Luigi kept chasing the boo out into the middle of empty farmland until he had to give up. He threw his hat to the ground in defeat. One his way back, he found something in the dirt. It was the green Bowser racket Mario used tossed aside, paint chipped and handle wrap frayed.

Later, "How did you get this?" Mario seized the racket and prepared to snap it over his knee.

"Bro, chill out!" Luigi lunged for it back and held it over his head so Mario couldn't reach.

"I just don't want old memories being brought up," Mario admitted, relinquishing. "Well, you came back just in time."

Dr. Goom continued the lecture that had dragged along painfully as he detailed every tidbit of the densely scribbled on white board, "The key components for reversing the gastronomic disease Mushroom Flu are the stardust powdering agent, the dayzee tears, cobalt shard crystal, and black apple juice along with mystery component X-"

"Which my brother will snag for us all," Mario cut in. Had Luigi not been so diffident in the moment, he'd slapped Mario. If it wasn't a hole being stared into him it was a weak frown implying 'how could the younger brother POSSIBLY do this?' or an eyebrow cocked quizzically. He hated it, but it was also like a dare. He had to get it right now.

A bus fetched the toads and brought them back to Peach's Castle to estimate the damage and check out the garden with dayzee tears. They'd send the item off if they chose to take residence again, except Toadette the self proclaimed leader or manager (it was in her job description she was sure to remind) doubted it. Stone riddled with cracks, the entire building was sunk down in several feet with water spurting from exposed pipes. The moat no longer lined up and required a small jump to cross which everyone happily did. In fact, Toadette got left in the dust with Alagold.

"Like, come on people! You really want to move in again in this shape?" she vented. Resoundingly the answer from most of the toads was 'yes', apparently Hotel Mario was that much worse. It did have a mouser problem and suspicious noises in the hallways at night sending her on edge and the beds pre-dampened for them but.. she understood actually..

"Let's pick up that item while we're here," Alagold said, the twitching he did when his item detecting skills were working absent completely.

She made the hop inside and splashed in puddles filled with crunching items, likely the tiles that had fallen from the ceiling and the ornate vases shattered. "What again?"

"The one from the stars, brah. Send them Peach's jewel.."

Unsettled but remembering the fact that she was authorized to enter the princess's bedroom, Toadette made that way. The princess owned some gifts said to hold the powers of the stars she knew from Mushroom College studies and word of mouth, albeit always in a hushed fashion. Under Peach's bed inside a shoe box like Alagold hinted at was the most beautiful stone she'd ever seen. Irregular shaped, it was a light pink color that glowed in her hands, lighting the dark room. She felt like she stared for hours.

At Club 64, Kylie Koopa cracked her fingers and got to jotting her outline, seated in her favorite spot next the long fish tank that always got her in a serene productive mood. The tank was drained today though and consequently issues sprang up before she was done with her header. Her story was old news and now the local gossip was that Bowser jumped ship to Sky Land. It was moments like these when she really missed Mitch. Her ex always stayed on top of every happening everywhere, sort of a nerd about that and he didn't even enjoy it that much as she'd known since they were in diapers, just accept it as a part of himself. She had one lead get some info from his so called intern, a dry cleaning receipt due today folded up in back seat of the Aston Mushroom signed 'Jeremy N' at the bottom. Even an amateur sleuth could figure this out, Toad Town had one dry cleaners!

Luigi and Captain Toad hit the warp pipe zone for Sky Land. When they landed on the other side signs of Koopa Troop activity were about as subtle as a giant barking chain-chomp next to their ear. Under a smoke fill haze the mushroom homes were damaged lifeless husks and there were discarded spears, spiny eggs, and Bowser flags on fire. Luigi felt as crushed as the nearby half constructed fortress and proposed they split up in the ghost town. While not finding any treasure anywhere Captain Toad's attention was drawn to a whimpering noise in the charred remains of a toad house. He ventured inside to find a buzzy beetle flipped on is back squashed some heavy stones and tarmac.

"D-d-ark..." the small creature whispered, a dark streak running from his mouth. "...s-s-sta- ar..."

After a moment's hesitation, the Captain crouched down. "What?" he repeated but the baddie was silent. He tried a new approach. "Where are your goods?" Still no response and he saw their gaze glassing over, life slipping away. Disgruntled, he snatched a heavy pointed rock then slammed it down..

Luigi dropped to his knees, prostrating himself once they met up again a few minutes later. "We completely missed them! Tower's empty and the castle in the sky is gone. I just don't get it!"

"Don't get what, Mr. Luigi?"

"That Bowser could do this! What if we keep missing him and can't find his notes? What if our friends don't make it?! What if _Daisy_ doesn't?" Tears rolled down his face.

Captain Toad approached him gently. "I get it. On my crew's last visit to the Jade Jungle caverns for that last archaeological haul, I meet the most wonderful woman. So adventurous, so spirited, lovely on the eyes, oh- and speaking of caverns.."

Luigi tilted his head up, eyebrows furrowing. "Where are you going with this?"

"Ah right-" Captain Toad switched back into focus. "I had a disagreement with Bank Toad about whether it was appropriate to snap her pictures. Think Mushroom Geographic stuff. It wasn't. That's how he fell off of that cliff..."

Luigi stood up, confounded. "Captain.."

He shrugged. "Don't be afraid of what you need to do to get something done, Mr. Luigi. Just telling you as a friend.."

Mario tread where dusty red road met black paved highway at the South to Toad Town boarder watching out for baddie activity. He hadn't met any enemy spies but it was always a fear eating at him. Toadette confirmed over phone that they successfully foraged the dayzee tears. The flaky seeming Dave proved him wrong by flying his helicopter all the way to the Beanbean Kingdom for the stardust and returning with the powdery substance coating him and his vehicle. Dr. Toadley called an old friend Prof E. Gadd inquiring of cobalt stars. Fifteen minutes later the professor had Parakarry send over a bag of shards he was freely giving up as surplus. That left the black apple. "Black apples only grow in the sky," he said into empty air. He was brought out of a daze when he saw a southerner at the gate meeting with a huge truck.

"Howdy Mr. Hero." Probabilly shook Mario's hand. "This is that help I called."

"Yep. Dat sounds reasonable enough."

Mario snapped towards to the monty mole outside a truck he'd missed somehow. "What does?"

"The apples! We've health inspected the Overthere before, it's just matter of attaching our cloud-traction tires," the snifit Sebastian said, still seated in the MKDCU's truck. "Hey is my old classmate Emery really working for Bowser now?"

Mario was suddenly lifted off his feet and cradled by a tall wiggler with an iron like grip. "Whoa! What are you doing?"

Unmoved, Wiggletron sat Mario down again. "Patient's health is at acceptable levels.." he droned. "He could stomp two-hundred goombas in his state."

"Watch it!" Richard, a mega goomba inside the truck made a face.

"My apologizes," Wiggs muttered, flushing.

"If you guys wanna that's super. No, we're not paying you though, sorry," Mario had to add.

"Sounds like a deal. This one's on the house just for you," the last of them, a parakoopa identical to Probabilly but with a clean shaved head said from the passenger seat of the truck. Soon the MKDCU truck sped off again, kicking up red dust in its wake.

Mario let a genuine smile creep up on him as for the first time all day his thoughts weren't being tainted by '_The Enemy_'. Back inside the southern hospital Mario he the banging on the doors from the sick coma walking patents, as the toad guards had returned to where they originated at the King's request for reasons unknown, (Even though the South had payed them for a full day's 'protection') to instead tune into Bowser activity on the transistor radio. Buckenberry rushed inside, jumping up and down.

"A Toad Town spy contacted ME! Yeah, me when I told him I was your secretary! I hope you're not mad-"

"-What did he say?"

"Bowser's left Sky Land for Giant Land now."

Mario dragged the toad across the table and into his face. "My phone's still charging in the recovery facility across the field. Call my brother. NOW!"

Jr. Troopa came up next with an ugly look. "I don't trust Drew," he said spontaneously.

"Who?"

"Dr. Toad. Never mind." The teenager softened and hung up his cowboy hat, then resembling the kid Mario remembered. "Guess what else."

Mario shot up at the sight of his friend, clean, fresh, and recently showered. Not that Yoshi was typically a pig, but he seemed almost too sterile. "Finally Yoshi! Girlfriend kept you in all day?" The plumber feared that was an ill timed joke by the way the dino nearly flinched.

"Remember Dr. Prof. Koopa?" Yoshi asked dryly.

"The guy that got away? Did you.. run into the creep?"

Yoshi nodded. "He was trying to escape the kingdom but… he's taken care of now."

...

A giant para-beetle was leisurely flying in the sky when she noticed a distinct pattern of flattened forest. It started from one direction then made a huge circle. The winged koopa returned to the village to warn the others, evading detection.

"I wish I'd went with Luddy." Wendy pouted for the one-hundredth time. "I could be getting a pedicure, sipping fine sparkling beverages, having a hot dinner.." Her heel got stuck in another viscous mud puddle, leaving her with a bare foot. "Daddy! I can't walk anymore with one shoe!"

Bowser yanked the old map he and his army were using away from Kamek with ferocious growl. "IT WAS UPSIDE DOWN THE ENTIRE TIME!" He spun around to the rest of his forces. His battalion had diminished so that he could actually see all of them at once and even the hairs of their heads, if they had any, standing up.

"I NEED A REPORT! A REPORT RIGHT NOW!"

Sentry 11, with his balaclava torn and with bruises underneath answered, "There are about five-hundred of us lost in this forest, boss."

"GAHH!" Bowser kept stomping the ground over and over. "Forget this kingdom's castle! We find the nearest civilization, take it over, and I marry the princess!"

"Bowser," Peach plead, advancing towards him as she could with the chain around her leg. "You have to stop! Entire kingdoms don't get uprooted two times in row!"

"What is your point, princess?"

"YOU are the common denominator..." Bowser's soldiers in standing back remained silent at her statement. "What of that voice your heard in the sky? Perhaps the stars are punishing you!"

"HOLD IT!" Bowser bent to her level quickly. "Your fairy tales and wishes and whatever aren't true! There are no stupid stars doing stupid crap for us like you and your stupid toads like to stupid believe! Don't bring up the Star Rod either.. because.. that's different!"

"But-" she countered, one hand raised.

Bowser turned around. "Shut up Hotness. Now what?"

Lemmy and the other koopalings that had been sent ahead returned from around giant tree trunks. "King Dad! We found a village!"

"But it don't got no electricity," Roy added sourly.

"Noooooo!" Wendy wailed.

"We go. MARCH!" Bowser's army invaded the village where small cabins were the size of large homes to them and nicer homes the size of mansions. The Giant Land natives were larger than even his biggest hammer bros but in Bowser's favor there were few living in the rural neighborhood and whomever they encountered chose to run instead of fight. Effectively they partitioned an area with a dozen homes and structures as property of Bowser.

The Koopa King fixed his attention on what seemed to be a frequently used storehouse with a large spacious interior. "Somebody, move that tractor out of the way. No not you Larry, you're still grounded."

Somehow, Tanner got to be the lackey to climb in despite never touching such a thing before. Inside was like a rust covered but advanced alien spaceship so he pulled levers until engine roared to life and the tractor's humongous threaded wheels rolled backwards. "Oh, I'm doing something!… Sir? Wait I can't stop it!"

Bowser absentmindedly nodded while the koopatrol kept rolling backwards and away. Now with the storehouse empty, he had soldiers get to work creating provisions from scratch using the natural materials around. Any baddie with arms and even some without relayed planks of wood down a line of assembly, rocky wrenches handled bolts, thwomps, bob-ombs, and blasts from magikoopas knocked down trees and hammer bro hammers were repurposed to be… hammers..

"We cannot get married in there!" Peach poked her head inside to see the work. "I am.. allergic to barley, and hay, and bundles of seeds!.. And carpentry!"

Bowser's teeth grind together before he thought of something. "Ha. Got you there Hotness, I thought Mario was a carpenter once? Whatever, bring Toadsworth up here."

Peach hadn't seen her old man since the failed escape and wondered why he swayed in his steps while Emery dragged him to the storehouse. She was sort of the elder toad's keeper now. Bowser asked him about Peach being allergic to anything.

"Of course not, *hic*" Toadsworth replied right away. "Is that a dance stage? I am the best at the waltz. Watch me!" The mushroom did a few steps and did tripped on his own toes, inebriated.

Peach covered her face, appalled in more ways than one while Bowser grinned toothily. The marriage was on again and Bowser just had to share the news with a special someone. Mario didn't pick up so he left a 'cute' little message for the plumber...

Taking up a VIP space, Kylie staked out the Toad Town Cleaners for a good while watching their steam machine press white dress shirtsfrom the clear windows. Up and down. A blanket of steam poured out. While captivated by the inner workings of the mundane operation, someone pulled up in the spot a lane across, a blacked out later model sports car. An orange yoshi in a dark suit exited and paused before her Aston Mushroom flustered. He did a sort of hand sign involving one index finger on the right hand raised and an 'o' symbol on the left hand directed to someone in the tall hedges. Either he was reminding the bushes what the number ten looked like or it was an _arcane gang symbol_. Either way Kylie hopped out quickly.

"Sorry! Is this your spot-" Words ceased when Kylie noticed a prick in her shoulder, the tail end of a little dart. She felt dizzy and then blacked out.

…

Kylie felt the warmth of a bright light on her face. Cracking her eyes open nearly got her blinded, she shielded her face while noticing two figures near her.

"N, she's waking up."

"You don't say, Spy Guy," a matter of fact voice replied.

The green shy guy with camouflaging leaves on his head cut off the overhead lamp. Kylie was on her back atop pastel colored tiled floors with carnival music in the background.

"Is this a joke, brother?" she groaned.

"If stealing Agent 0064's car while he was missing was a joke, then yes," replied Agent N, the yoshi in the suit from before.

"You're the Toad Town spies and I'm in your hideout!" Location: Shy Guy's Toy Box as evidenced by the indoor train tracks and fun little locomotive inspired props hanging from strings. "Where were you when the Bowser spies got the jump on me last night?"

"Busy. Don't get it confused sister, we aren't part of some conspiracy, we just happen to be interested in Bowser at the moment," N replied rather sassily. "The only reason you're still alive right now is because you're on our approved ally list."

Kylie raised her hands in acquiesce. "I just wanted to find Mitch Toad and your noki detective was the last to see him!"

"Jelectro? Why did you have his car?"

"Technically he told me to dispose of it but why let it waste? Why was your receipt in his backseat?"

"Because it's OUR car," the yoshi replied to her befuddlement. "Stop making me document myself- or dox, whatever the kids say these days."

"Too late, Agent N.. or Jeremy Ninten." Kylie's hands sprung up again when Spy Guy aimed a poison dart gun her way. "No trouble, just the truth!"

"Well good for you. You've been unconscious for hours and in fact, here is your noki." Agent N stepped aside, letting her see Jelectro stepping up but as a jailbird in a surreal moment. Missing his glasses he wore an orange jumpsuit with a number on it and held her office's phone under his arm.

Jelectro dropped the landline with a clack. "I know what you want and I don't like it, mon ami!" He sneezed.

Agent N folded his arms unsympathetically. "First of all, what's that heap of junk?"

"Proof that the staff of MK East were part of Bowser's conspiracy, his minion's conspiracy rather. Now I cut my vacation short, et cette attitude amour?" Jelectro slung his arm around the yoshi. "They may or may not be currently fleeing to Sarasaland now."

"Duly noted," N muttered impersonally. "Now help her find whoever else you dragged into our business. That's final."

Jelectro's nose wrinkled while facing Kylie. Later, he sneezed again and his head felt stopped up while he clicked his seat belt on angrily. "I think I'm catching a cold," he grumbled to the koopa reporter he hurried along into the car out of fatigue induced belligerence. They sped along on the streets again. "...What? Save that face madam, I'm only doing this so that I don't have to sleep on the couch tonight."

"You catch and attitude with that cold?" Kylie's intentionally uncomfortable gaze bore into him, but he seemed immune. "What ever happened to Mitch?"

"He got hit by a bus."

Jelectro stopped the car before MK East, a mere shell of what it was just yesterday with only the first floor open, few patients, fewer staff with the newly crumbling infrastructure. Kylie intentionally left Jelectro behind to rush in. She saw the green spotted toad in the front waiting area like he was there just her her. He sat in a wheelchair with a blanket on his lap and lots of little greeting cards lying on top.

"Kylie, late to the 'scoop' as always, babe. The whole press found out and sent me stuff. Not Jesse though, wonder why.."

Kylie gave him a huge hug and didn't want to let go. "I'm going to punch that noki."

"Why? Ouch! Watch my broken.. everything. Anyway it's not my 'intern's' fault. Zoo followed you to the stadium and I followed him, babe. I got him, but then he got me and then-"

"What!" She pulled back.

"Zoo's dead," Mitch told her bluntly. "Something offed him last night. You know how I always say every living thing gives off, like, a signal? He was only twenty-two-" He cut himself off knowing that Jelectro was walking through the automatic doors. "_Why show up? You __didn't contact me like you were supposed to._"

Jelectro stopped three steps in. _"__N__o apology for s__ending__ me __here__ right __before __those __guards__ s__tormed__ it? __Quel Salaud!__" _He cleared his throat. "Are you well?" he added so that it wouldn't seem like they were having a staring contest to Kylie.

Mitch with some difficulty showed no outward reaction to such an insult. "Fine just fine."

Kylie got to the point after the tension rose enough to catch a sweat (and not naive to the fact that both had some sort of psionic power, explaining a lot about her noki 'friend' yesterday. Men in general were just not as subtle as they thought..) "Mitch, Steve is on the mends too but he gave me some recent observations. Since you specialize in getting the scoop outside of Toad Town, what's your take on why Sarasaland got a replacement leader all a sudden?"

"Babe, I'd figure it out but A: still waiting on that insurance claim. B-"

Kylie put a hand on her hips. "What's the excuse now? You know what happened last time! I'm still banned from Chinese restaurants! When we have a project you always have me venture out while you stay at base."

Mitch calmly removed the covers and let them fall to the side. His legs were so tightly wrapped in bandages and gauze they hardly recognized the stumps.

...

While the sun set in Giant Land the excitement rose to dizzying levels at the union of Bowser and Peach became imminent. Two koopalings were scurrying around where ever the handheld WiFi-analyzer took them, even if it lead to a certain cabin of the very edge of Bowser's territory with a high barbwire fence. 'Richard Goomba Sr. MD' was on an old sign posted up and one of the lower windows had a blue glow coming from it.

"Is this it?" Wendy wore a yellow sundress on and kept playing with the strings on it from nervousness. She couldn't believe she was cutting so close to her own dad's wedding but she just had to catch up on some friend's social media walls and start some drama, especially since some of those friends were the same ones kicking them out of Dark Land yesterday.

"I'm picking up wireless internet waves, microwaves, gamma-waves, infrared waves, light waves, somebody doing the wave, all in there! Some party." Iggy checked the watch he held with wires hanging form it. He wore only a black tie. "We have ten minutes."

"That enough, great!" Wendy climbed through the gap in the fence. The weeds in the yard were at waist levels and the stairs creaked when they approached the front door. She knocked on the door while polka music blasted inside. It stopped.

"WHO'S KNOCKING ON MY DOOR?" a voice bellowed. The door swung open and a mega goomba with a dark face, bushy down turned eyebrows, bloodshot eyes, and a black goatee filled up the entire doorway. "GOSH DARN KOOPAS BETTER GET OFF MY PROPERTY!"

Screaming, Iggy and Wendy ran for their lives. The goomba grabbed his hunters cap and started chasing them all through the forest.

In the storehouse, Bowser had every one who could fit as an audience. Some baddies even hung out in the rafters to watch the union to take place. Bowser only wore a black cape and Peach wore her same dress but washed to be nice and clean again as she was forced to march down the isle. The floors were littered with fire flowers, the only local plant. Bowser Junior was best man, and Morton, Roy, and Lemmy were the other groomsman, all in a line on the little stage hastily created. They never planned for Ludwig to be missing but Lemmy held his brother's violin to sort of represent the military commander and Roy was videotaping the whole thing for his return. Larry and Toadsworth were seated in the audience with no input. Last, Kammy was the only bridesmaid because Wendy hadn't showed up yet. She stood with a tissue constantly patting her face.

"Does anyone have any objections?" Kamek asked.

"I say!" Toadsworth soberly stood up.

"You don't count."

"I do… have an objection," Peach spoke up, trying to stall.

"Good one," Bowser chuckled, thrillingly staring into his bride's face. He thought of something according to custom. "Ya know, I think I'm suppose ta, like formally ask your pops for your hand or something. Not that I care about what he thinks! But I wonder what he'd say.." Bowser hardly knew the Mushroom King since he was not ruling by the time he starting kidnapping her.

"He.. uh..." Peach seemed like she was trying to compute something illogical so everyone went on without an answer.

Kamek returned to his book, Koopa Kingly Law XXI. "Place your hand please." Bowser placed his right hand on it and his left on Peach's so that she'd have no choice but to place hers too. "Do you take Princess Peach Toadstool as your wife?"

"Yes!" Bowser answered.

"And do you take King Bowser Koopa as your husband?"

Peach clinched her eyes shut. Stars, please save her she repeated inside.

"Daddy! Heeeeeelp!" Wendy screeched, running in with her brother and expelling attention from the stage.

Richard Sr. knocked the doors down. "IS THIS A KOOPA CONVENTION? I KNEW IT!" he screamed with a mouth rivaling Bowser's.

Bowser let go of the book. "Who are you?!"

"Richard Sr. MD. I tell ya I used to be a village leader and now I walk out of my door and your brats are trying to steal my internet and you koopas are driving out my neighbors and stealing my storehouse and moving my tractor and my barley and my hay and my seeds!?"

"… WHAT?"

"YOU HEARD ME! You promised to never invade Giant Land again!"

Kamek calmly recollected himself. "I have been with Lord Bowser forever and I remember no such pact."

Richard Sr. marched up to his face. "I remember you, nerd. Class of 195X. Now you're his butler?"

Kamek scoffed. "Me? I run the castle practically! Plus I wooed all the magikoopa chicks and my wand was the best!"

Everyone in the room except Kammy reeled in disgust. Peach took that opportunity to inch backwards then to the right, then to the left a little, then took a step off the platform. She couldn't get too far though before the groomsmen blocked her way, besides that, she was on film!

Bowser swallowed his own vomit. "YOU'RE ALL RUINING MY WEDDING!" He stomped the ground and a foot went through the platform creating sparks which hit a fire flower and ignited the platform and-

...

Wendy sat down on the dirt, amber hues flickering across her visage while the lingering flames from the storehouse danced several yards away. It was near midnight.

Lemmy stepped over slowly and sat beside his younger sister. Ludwig's violin was sat in his lap. "I guess we'd better destroy that footage so Luddy doesn't see it and-"

She turned to him without humor. "Is daddy really losing it?"

"You mean with what he saw in Sky Land?" Lemmy paused and plucked a few strings debating quickly how to explain it. He was spared by Bowser Junior emerging from some tall grass with a mischievous smile.

"Dad's putting the wedding off for a bit. Wanna know something? I'm why we decorated with the fire flowers, hehehe!"

"That's not funny. Unless..." Lemmy inwardly groaned when he realized he was now dealing with two defectors in the royal household.

...

Mario had a blank expression upon the fruit being placed in his lap. It was a basket of them. "Guys? I don't know what to say.."

"Doth not sayeth aught, we art just doing our job." Parabilly tipped his straw hat before blinking twice.

Sebastian gave a start. "We linger'd in the Overthere too long!" The rest of the MKDCU glanced at each other in confusion.

"Whatev'r. Alloweth's receiveth out of hither. MKDCU out!" Jimmy announced with a yawn.

Mario watched them leave into the night then blindly rush through mushroom farms in the middle of the night. He barged into the science barn to show the Special World doctors the items. Their work so far was clearly hectic with equipment sprawled everywhere and papers scattered. He dumped it all on the only clear table and the doctors crowded around.

"Wonderful Mario. We'll work through the night doing what we can-"

"We will?" Prof X-Naut protested.

"Yes. We. Will!" Dr. Toad grumbled. "But we will need Dr. Mario's old notes detailing the last thing. Is your brother still working on that?"

Mario dropped the smile.

...

"Hello? Yeah, I'm okay. Just camping out in Giant Land with the Captain," Luigi answered when Mario called him. The brothers spoke for a minute. Mario noticed that he sounded a little worn but optimistic. "Yeah, Mario. Bowser better watch out tomorrow..."

Mario laid back on his bed, just like how the day started as he chose to stick around down South than return home where he'd be alone. He should have felt better, but the message Bowser sent him that evening kept replaying in his mind.

"_Mario. You cannot stop me this time. Just. Give. Up!_"

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Created: 7/1 – 7/3/19, 7/4, 7/7, 7/9, 7/19, 7/21, 7/26, 7/29, 7/31, 8/4, 8/21, 8/31, 9/1, 9/13, 9/15, 9/18, 9/23, 9/24, 9/27**


	13. Brutality and Complexity

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**Brutality and complexity (Chapter 13)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to… (see bottom for spoilers!)**

* * *

Ludwig felt rejuvenated, yes even sleeping sitting upwards, when he lifted his head from the travel pillow. He didn't think he would be going to Poshley Heights to meet a 'Villain Council' by way of the Excess Express. He'd obtained his badge earlier had Super Mario Maker not ruined his eighteenth birthday inauguration. Curses to Mario and that 'undo' button shattering the dreams of his perfect castle level... He could already see a marble water fountain outside the window nestled among rows of neatly trimmed green grass with vibrant and genetically altered purple fire flowers circling the edge.

Running late, he was one of the last passengers to exit the train and head down the brick road into down town and its multistory buildings with Victorian styling, perceptions of such ignored by the genius busily grabbing enough snacks to bring home to his family. He just had to grab a sparkling beverage for Wendy or _else_! He glanced at his watch and made a split decision to scout a bookshop in passing. It hosted nothing of interest, save a book on 'balloonology'. Where would he find a complete version of 'Ex spatio obiecti specialem'? He put that quest aside.

Sprinting in low sun, Ludwig was starting to perspire as he crossed stone bridge leading to a granite polished city building. Various flag poles erected represented many kingdoms. The toad officers let him into empty halls where each step echoed.

"This way Commander Ludwig. My condolences for the banquet being canceled as the food truck is still missing. Still we are impressed that your forces have the princess apprehended," the magikoopa told him, leading him up some stairs. He turned his head with a smile. "Usually those Marios would have made a move by now."

"They are likely occupied with the Mushroom Flu problem. All according to plan," Ludwig replied with a hint of pride. The wood panel room he was led to was anticlimactic. There were the grouping of the Villain Counsel, all magikoopas in robes of red, blue, green, and white and they clapped before Ludwig who flushed, stuck in the spotlight.

"..I don't suppose I was expected to have an acceptance speech, was I?"

"No not at all," they assured him. A magikoopa with a long grey goatee approached with a box containing a gold badge of medium size with a detailed engraving of a skull and crossbones, aventurine accents in the backdrop and a ruby in the eyes of the scull. 'Mega in ultimum exitium villian' it said at the very bottom. The thing Ludwig sought for years was now in his grasp.

So that was it, right? Actually with lots of time on the train and a free guest wifi connection, Ludwig had discovered something curious..

Ludwig glanced back up at the counsel. "Does so-and-so permit visitors?"

The group of elders paused with some suspicion. "You can find him at..."

...

"Yes I am aware I am the son of your daughter's kidnapper but can we assume a frenemy relation, at least temporarily?" Ludwig bowed respectfully, wary of that spear or two or three aimed at his back by a toad. The retired royal lived, not in any castle at all, but rather a fancy hotel room open for public if one got past the dozens of toad guards. "A certain person worked for Bowser Castle when I was just a small child. He worked with the philanthropist Dr. Mario to eradicate the first outbreak of Mushroom Flu and I recently found that he worked in your castle before us. Why did you fire Dr. Theodore V. Koopa?"

The Mushroom King, a hefty human with a dyed black beard, spotted mushroom hat, and red robe sat lazily in a cushioned chair listening, strikingly calm in the face of an adversary until the end. The mentioning of Dr. Professor made his face harden. "Dr. Koopa was the best in his field, very meticulous but there was that coldness in his eyes, that bleakness of his heart! I made a decision. He was evil," he relayed, like a script Ludwig would know too well. He did go to theater.

Ludwig slowly rose up. "Why exactly was he evil to you?"

The king sized him up with a steely gaze. "Are the king's responses inadequate for you, koopa?"

Ludwig smiled politely, fully aware he was being toyed with. Declaring one side as 'evil' was usually a gotcha to stifle conversation/debating/arguing over who got the remote quickly. Most people did not wish to be evil, but he was not most people.. "You know I am a connoisseur of such arts so I only hoped for a little elaboration. There is much planning, forethought, _Brutality and complexit__y_, but I'll let that go. Now I inquire, if guard #6 stops poking me, of what made you decide to move from your perfectly comfortable and accommodating castle in Toad Town to a single bedroom hotel where you never show your face to the outside word, declare yourself 'retired' when your own kingdom's law states there is no such thing for royalty, allow Koopa Troop operatives in town, and only speak to your only daughter through the phone?"

The King in that moment seemed like a venomous snake ready to strike despite what his exterior might convey, only resisted by not wanting to leave his seat. "Get out of my sight!"

Ludwig was dragged out by the toads and into the streets like he was having a really bad concert. He shook the dust from his feet, always a bit of a 'shock artist', and found that transformation at the conclusion thrilling. He'd have to continue his digging into Peach's family later. His phone going off stopped him as he was backtracking to the point of the bookstore. It was a message from a sort of satellite receiver.

"You koopas will get enough of taking over my land and stepping on my property. By the way your father's marriage hall, which was my shed burned down. You are playing for it! FYI Larry paid me to send this secretly with some gold coins. Now message to you, punk: something big attacked Sky Land and your shipping truck slaves got washed away at Isle Deflino." The message terminated.

After Ludwig's head stopped spinning, on autopilot he got waved a cab and boarded a late model sedan on the curb waiting for him. "Take me to the Mushroom Kingdom!" he ordered, and it drove off, the koopaling never noticing that Poshley Heights didn't have a taxi service and never had..

Secretary Ming of the Chai Kingdom, a short and spout roketon scurried on foot to the backside of Daisy's castle, now home of a two-hundred foot deep trench excavated by her own servants in a mad treasure rush. Daisy's dozens of hired hands (literally paid workers and not volunteers, Sarsaland had no toads to be toady) kept digging in a perpetual motion, not responding to Ming's calls. He would request help from the other generals, Yura, Roar, and Tao, maybe even the new one 'General Sǐwáng' who simply appeared on the scene, but they were missing.

All too used to being ignored he returned to Daisy's castle and his office to seem busy when some knocking on the bamboo doors leading outside forced him back to the front. Eagerly he swung it open and there were three haggard and deranged looked individuals, a whomp, toad, and shy guy.

"Nǐmén hǎo?"

"You need doctors don't you?" Dr. Terrace spoke up.

"MKDCU?! No!" Ming shook his head, getting horrible flash backs of that time Daisy only had the mildest sinus infection and yet that group flipped the entire castle upside down.

Nass T. slapped the whomp. "I'm nurse Nass Toad, head nurse of Isle Falsa and this is my crew. You've never heard of it? Here's our representative."

A fourth person revealed themselves from the side and it was a Sarasaland boarder officer looking normal except they smelled about as bad as the other three. "Daisy approved of us- I mean them some time ago."

"Yes yes. Go go. But not there!" Ming dragged them all inside and away from an ajar door he'd only then noticed, perhaps the most authoritative thing he'd been allowed to do in a while. Inside that room he could see was a red led clock on the wall blinking '00:00'. He flipped a switch, illuminating the storage room with Daisy's still new vanity that didn't match the color of her room, a present box from the Crystal King, and a punching bag, also a dusty key rack labeled 'Weapon Storage' with the sliding card key missing. Ming kept the keys to the actual switches for their artillery so why would only the card be missing?

Mario sprung out of bed at the sound of banjos, not wanting to be ice bucketed. "I'm awake!" Of course it was only the radio this time.

A group gathered at the barn to meet the doctors who all had dark bags underneath their eyes. The entire lab somewhat cleaned up to be presentable, tables were filled with test tubes on racks, a green liquid bubbling fiercely with in. The capsule what occupied the back left corner of the barn had grown a posy of red and yellow wires since yesterday, looking ever more completed yet dangerous. The white boards were etched on from top to bottom in various formulas and notes in several different handwriting.

"We've compiled it the way Dr. Mario would have. I totally met him one time and he loved my work," Professor X-naut boasted questionably.

"He was such a great guy to help the old Koopa Kingdom back then. Am I getting sentimental? Sorry. What does he do now aside from the Smash brothers thing?" Dr. Topper asked, very awake sounding despite appearances.

"Why do you need to know?" Jr. Troopa added suspiciously.

Dr. Toad shrugged. "Well all of our work will mean nothing if don't have his notes.."

Meanwhile there was some whispering was going on in the back of the pack. There were a few dozen crowding in the barn and during the conversation a bumpty in lumpy wintry coat and a lined fur hat atop his dome waddled out the doors while writing something down on a yellow legal pad. Yoshi followed him without thinking and kept on his heels, hunching down to blend in with the green corn stalks. The bumpty froze then Yoshi popped his head up.

"Stop!" the dino yelled. Goonies flew away nearby. The bumpty got smacked in the back of the head with a spotted yoshi egg, making him eat a mouthful of soil.

Later, "Why were you listening in on us, huh, baddie?" Mario was face to face with the shivering penguin planted against the wall of the old western prison cell. The entire village seemingly gathered around at their wall of Koopa Troop spies, the bumpty and the two koopas from yesterday. Shy Guy ranchers riding ostros were tutting to and fro spreading the news like a wildfire.

"This was on him." Yoshi shook the jacket and a million little things were flinging out of it, keys, sticks of gum, coins, breath mints, but also radios and notes.

One of the papers being scattered around brushed Buckenberry's shoe. "Let me get Toadette." The blue toad began to text her on the phone because she'd been moving back and forth between them down South and Peach's castle with the other toads all morning to be a 'manager'. She replied instantly saying it's Koopanese and that it was a rough translation of the cure formula from the white boards. Everyone gasped and Professor X-naut broke from the crowd to lock the doors on the barn.

"I knew those blasted computers would do it one day!"

Dr. Toad rolled his eyes. "Morris, thank you for locking us out too.."

"So it's clear they were up to no good like we thought," Mario half concluded, because he wasn't sure what to do with them from here.

"We got a spot on Mt. Rugged where there's this big 'ol overhang and we dangle criminals over the canyon and whack'em with sticks," Vick said, one of many hospital staff lingering around for drama. "The kids used to be all over it like 'lemme whack 'em pard!' Think that'll work?"

"I remember that," Jr. Troopa considered. "But, nah. Too much set up. I mean I could totally lift those iron bars if I had to but it's been a long day."

"Blast you, Junior," the patooie plant shot back. "The Mecha-yoshis it is."

"This sounds strange." Mario peered deep into his Yoshi for some support but found the spark of familiarity missing.

"Who has something better?" Yoshi responded stiffly.

A small white boo with a black ten gallon hat and a red bandanna over their mouth floated before the cells. They seemed very tough and intimidating. Yoshi recognized them but said nothing. "Watch this. By the power of Eldstar!" With a clap of thunder right out of the sunny sky a bolt of lightning came down and struck the bumpty with a bright flash. Spectators uncovered their faces and the bird was burnt crisp. They gawked before it became rousing praise around the morbid sight, half out of wonder the other out of fear.

"Noooo!" blared the other two Bowser spies. They careened out of the narrow window in the cell and off through the prairies. Vick whistled and engines revved up from an unassuming staple nearby. Cyborg dinosaurs knocked the doors down on their speedy but squeaky wheels on the trail of the escapees. Mario heard a zapping noise with some wheat flying up from an isolated spot in the field, then another.

"Uh oh," Vick went all a sudden, shaking because he knew he was in a heap of trouble. "I meant to disable that laser feature."

"Idiot!" Jr. Troopa spat, wringing the plant by his green neck. A flame broke out in a little spot in the field, thick smoke rising up and making everyone panic while the mecha-yoshis were sill prowling. The cowboys passed around a metal bucket full of water and of course Mario somehow got in the way. SPLASH!

...

A blanket of dew covered the ground, mosquitoes buzzed, cicadas chirped. The air was clear and new grass was already growing under the ashes as if the forest was doing Bowser a favor and blotting out his fiasco last night. Warm rays of light being broken up by the canopy to shine down in beams was beautiful and Peach shed a tear standing in the middle of one freely because Bowser lead his family down a short path away. She missed Mario, her anchor point so much. She was so lost in the world before then, a stranger in her own land before that plumber came around. She knew it unhealthy but much of her life before then felt etched out, a jigsaw puzzle missing integral pieces intentionally tossed away.. She returned to Bowser's forces and the campfire while Kamek rambled about something, trying to avoid the creep vibe giving Sentry 11. Having no one else, she almost discreetly made a call to her father before feeling a buzz in her ear, not unlike the sound of the insects abound but more internal warning her not to..

Deep lines in his face, Bowser plopped down on a stump, far enough he thought for privacy. "A bunch of ya'll wanted to discuss some things, so let's do it."

"Larry and Junior are both trying to sabotage your plans," Lemmy tattled. He felt he was almost becoming Ludwig, a nightmarish realization, and he would have to get on a trampoline some time and dance to techno to gain his old jive again.

"I know that by now. What else?"

"King Dad, I'm getting annoyed that you don't let me do nothing!" Roy exclaimed a little too believably. "Dis kingdom could have been in the bag if you'd lend me half da army!"

"How are you gonna do that when I don't even have enough minions to keep the outhouse's toilet tissue stocked? Huh?" Bowser barked back. "What did you really have to ask?"

Roy paused for a long time before crossing his arms and turning his head. "Nothin'..."

Morton closed shut the diary his face was buried in moments before. "May I mention that I have a startling discovery like when I found Junior's missing pet chomp by reading every morning newspaper for a week until that one koopa reported Mr. Chomper as lost? Zheng Koopa was a quizzical author and explorer and his life parallels ours. I was in the book club that was down the block, not to the left where someone stole my wallet, but to the right where I found a one-hundred coin bill. He was stalked relentlessly, King Dad! I'm scared! Terrified! What if bad things keep happening?! What tragedy, calamity, disaster will happen next? An earthquake? A bomb?-!"

"Morton!" Bowser cut in. "Last I checked we ain't him so it's fine!"

"Umm, does anyone have a soldering gun?" Iggy tinkered with the clock in his hand. Now the wires from it were tamed and the watch face could open to reveal circuitry and the minute hands spun counterclockwise, but his non sequitur was ignored anyway as everyone in the family did constantly.

"Daddy, let's just move over to Water Land and Peach might warm up to it since it's not filled with disgusting bugs and crazy people and etc," Wendy explained casually. Her real apprehension was revealed by her constantly playing around with her gold bracelets.

Bowser stood up with a blank expression. "That's… not stupid!"

"Daddy! I don't want more brothers and sisters!" Junior whined while stomping his feet in miniature imitation of his father.

Bowser picked the six year old and held him gently. "If that's all you're worried about there's ways to- Just don't worry about it, okay? For now let's get back. Now, everyone!"

Larry miserably kicked a rock as he got left behind. The oblong pebble rolled across Iggy's feet as he sat on a log contently with his hands in his lap.

"Iggy. Do you want dad to marry Peach?"

"Would you rather ask a gearmo or an X-Yux on a date?"

"...You're useless." Larry kicked another rock harder.

Back in the village forces surrounded a thwomp under suspension of something. The King came up and everyone stepped aside. Thwomp #3 was apparently a spy, caught by Sentry 11 who never slept. Said lakitu handed over the a phone from the thwomp, something small and rugged.

Bowser growled while pocketing the phone in his shell. "Be honest and things might be a little less painful, spy. How much did you spill to Mario aligned idiots? What did ya snatch from my treasury chest?"

The thwomp resisted the urge to shudder. "I don't work for Mario nor steal." His tone was lower and guttural, his natural one. "And your dirt's been relayed ages ago. The world knows you're stinking up Giant Land. You wimps do what you want!"

Sentry 11 flashed a grin, missing a few teeth on the sides. "Let's go then. I use to be a hitman before I joined the troop. Oh and I found this too." The one he held next was pink with rhinestones, Peach's.

Bowser gawked at it before pocketing it as well. "How did this go on for so long? Kamek? I thought you could detect sneaky stuff? Eyes in the back of your head, or four eyes or however you said it?!"

"You are giving me too much credit, Lord Bowser. That was me in my prime, now I'm doing well if two eyes are working! Besides," the magikoopa replied with a shrug, "I left behind our equipment back at the castle. Yes, the scepter too!"

Bowser was annoyed but examined the new toy anyway, excited at being able to access so much on the app it had installed called 'browser'. (It was made for him with that name he thought naively.) He updated the official Dark Land page and posted in all caps while walking. He checked a kingdom to kingdom communication protocol. Sarasaland warned in perfect but stilted English that he would be 'rewarded' very soon, he presumed sarcastically for Daisy getting sick. He had other things to worry about. Shortly he smacked into a tree to the amusement of his family impatiently waiting already.

"I'm gonna swim in water and play on the beach and go fishing and..!" Junior went on and on screeching.

Peach stood in the back and her lips formed a thin line, saving face as obligated and deprived of her one portal out of all of the fiendish mishaps in relation to Bowser.

...

Ludwig kept playing with the badge in his paws. Already it palled him, in fact it spawned a fringe of contempt, just not enough to resist digging for it when a bump in the road made it slip under the seat in front of him. He shed his jacket so he could stretch and got to blindly reaching, eluding the crumbs and dust caked down to brush against something black and spherical, a bob-omb. Reluctantly Ludwig ignored that and snagged the badge. Why would his cabbie, a red stubbly faced boo have that?

"Tell me something, Prince. How did you invent that tornado projection?" the driver asked, curiously eyeing Ludwig from the rear view. He lowered the volume on the talk radio station.

"Don't let the rumors mislead you. It was not a projection or a subordinate of mine, though I venture it was perhaps sentient," Ludwig answered absently as a long river running along the road planted a seed of an idea.

"I hope that badge was worth it! Sam and Slam would agree."

So engrossed, Ludwig missed that. "...Quick sop the vehicle!"

It skid to a stop. Ludwig got out and ran to the water's edge, launching the forsaken Mega Villain pin as hard as he could and watching it sunk into the water and disappear. That was only the start, but everything about him in that instant felt lighter and he could breathe again. He leisurely returned to the car, fiddled with the greasy tattered backseat belt, avoided the suspicious stain in the seat, and glanced upwards to find his very own engraved orange NES zapper aimed eye level.

"Don't leave your jacket in the seat next time."

"I fail to understand why you choose now to rob me."

"River's convenient for your body. Now, how did your janitor control the storms?!" the boo yelled. "Speak up!"

"Easy there! You lack perspective, the underling Zoo didn't mean to..." The koopaling's eyebrows lowered. "-Did you say, 'WE'? You are a spy!"

"Ha ha ha. I tracked you since Sky Land. Anyway, there's a few hundred miles of water here, it'll be hard to find aaaalll your pieces scattered about!-"

"You are despicable!"

"Thanks. Now get out!"

Ludwig slid out and trudged towards the grass shore. Why did he even pack a zapper aside from it being an old present? Not knowing when to let go was his issue, contributing even to his current blunder. Reaching the water's edge, he turned his head. "May I get acquainted with you? Name?"

"What?.. Trevor." The boo pressed the zapper into his back.

"I'm flattered that you give me your real name. You look like a Trevor."

"Where are we going with this? I know you're prolonging your life because they all do that," Trevor replied clinically. "But I guess it's alright to get to know the victim, makes the souvenirs I keep memorable so I won't forget about them in the freezer... So what did you want to talk about again?"

Ludwig struggled keep his poker face "..Who do you like better? Mario or who's that green one?"

"Green Mario."

"That's not quite right."

"Aren't they both Mario?"

Ludwig almost face palmed. "No!"

"Just playing with ya. He's called Luigi! And I do in fact like-"

Ludwig's phone blasted 'Symphony No. 9', actually a voice activated call back, startling his attacker. He brought his elbow down on the boo's head and pushed him in the water. Ludwig bolted back to the car but the keys were missing. He jumped back out and began to trace the ground for them, getting blind sided by a hard punch. Ludwig's head smacked backwards on the pavement.

"Geh zum Teufel," he groaned. He knocked Trevor off and shot a fire balls his way. The boo turned invisible and reappeared on the other side of him. Ludwig kicked him against the car and something clicked loudly. Worn brakes failing, the wheels began to roll the car down hill, gaining speed until it hit the curb below and ran off into the water, sinking quickly.

Trevor visibly cringed. "That was a company car. I'm sooo fired."

Ludwig grabbed the pink boo with all the fury he had. "Listen carefully, Toad Town spy! I must stop a super powered being I know little about from taking away everything and everyone I love and I'm running out of time! Piss off!" Ludwig slung him down again, the boo seeming very confused.

"Chill out! We know! I'm Agent M and that was just my signature interrogation technique until the breaks failed. That wasn't scripted. HQ kind of knew there might be something weird going on but I was the one thinking of remote controlled weather experiments-"

"What!" Ludwig stopped himself just short of another attack, logic winning the battle against his seething. "Your agency has been monitoring me.."

Agent M kept facing the bubbles where the car sank. "Yep but it's not our main focus. That's classified, but yeah we've noted Bowser moving from World 8 to 5 to 4.."

"So that confirms it.." Ludwig muttered. He sighed, not in relief exactly but was better for it. There was a thump in the water, no doubt that bob-omb from before. He noted the boo moving down the street then.

"Ludwig? Let's get a new ride, buddy."

Ludwig glared in absolute disgust. "Do you suggest we are to cooperate now?!" Working with the enemy was for Mario and Bowser and Ludwig was not a Mario or a Bowser and wouldn't wish to be. "Curses!" he repeated to the sky as his new partner continued down the road...

Down south any all enemy species dwelling in or around the shanty town and even north into Toad Town were briefly under suspicion of being a secret spy but it ran out of steam out quickly, there not being any real basis for the paranoia most concluded. Crop fires were extinguished, robotic yoshis were locked back up, a certain nurse was screamed at again, and everything died down. Mario closed in on the boo in the ten gallon. They were hiding on an empty ranch practicing tossing axes into an old rotting fence.

The plumber approached carefully and sneakily but not so that he might frighten them and get something flung his way. "Excuse me. Who are you?"

Booigi slowly spun around, just as pent up looking as before. "What I did was a favor. When is Luigi coming back?"

Mario gulped and didn't risk repeating the question. "He'll pull through but what you did before was kind of not okay.. Luigi wouldn't like it either."

"Shut up! I do everything for him!" Booigi exploded.

Mario fled the scene before he got zapped or impelled. He kept going all the way back to the hospital where there was Yoshi standing around. He panted while trying to explain, "Yoshi I found the guy with the hat and scarf! Maybe we all can-"

"So?" Yoshi folded his arms uncharacteristically.

"'Trigger Happy McBoo' murdered that Bowser crook! If they were working for me, I'd fire them."

Yoshi seemed startled and then angry again. "You'd fire one of us for doing the world a favor when you personally sit on your butt all day?!"

"Me?" Mario's volume crept up. "You think I asked to be sitting duck around here while by brother is doing my job? What are your amazing contributions for today, Mr. Shows-up-late as heck?"

"I killed Dr. Professor Koopa!" Yoshi words lingered in the air, everything felt fast and slow at the same time. "I mean, I didn't plan to but- he deserved it right?" he grabbed on to Mario, though the plumber was too stunned to spurn him anyway.

...

Kylie Koopa was under local water tower stealthy as she could waiting for the person to meet there, circling the spy car with a noki waiting in the drivers seat. Whatever Jelectro was feeling at the moment manifested externally as just a blank expression rendered more impassive by the return of his black sunglasses.

"When I first got in town why was there a mob of folks carrying torches and pitchforks and scythes?! I know a lot of the locals are farmers but.." Kylie let it go when she saw how Mario looked stepping up several minutes late. "So anyway we got Sarasaland on the line brother, but it's not from Daisy Castle. I worked with some Toad Town spies to do it and they want to speak with you!"

Surprised, Mario took the receiver from her. He could make out General Yura, Roar, and Tao on the other side but that wasn't the voice that spoke to him such a loud and harsh tone his ear rang.

"MARIO? HA HA OLD CHAP, JUST CHECKING THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE AND BREATHING."

"I'm still.. what?!"

"BRILLIANT, TA TA."

* * *

**To be continued..**

**(spoilers) Disclaimer: Annnnnnd the answer is…. Nintendo! Did you guess right?**

**Created: 7/4/19, 7/6, 7/9, 7/10, 7/22, 7/25, 7/28, 7/29, 7/31, 8/4, 8/21, 9/1, 9/2, 9/13, 9/15, 9/18, 9/24, 9/29**


	14. Rambo Mario

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**Rambo Mario (Chapter 14)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belongs to Nintendo. **

* * *

Captain Toad reached for the lantern in the tent, getting hit with a dull headache. He unzipped the sleeping bag full of his own sweat and grime and crawled out, covered in day old cuts and bruises. It was foggy in the middle of Giant Land's forest, nothing above but white. He'd walked until his feet nearly bleed in nearly inhabitable land and knew by GPS the journey was long from over. While alone, without the presence of others as he was so adapted to, anxiety got a chance to agitate with in. The Captain mulled over the unnatural circumstances that brought him on the adventure and the eerie wind storm at the wake of every new move from Bowser. About how-

A twig snapped.

Something rustled in the bushes.

He grabbed his pickaxe and scanned around before something yanked the tool from his palms.

"Gotcha." Materializing behind him, Luigi dangled the pickaxe from the green vine lasso he'd created. A bandanna that looked like his blue overalls wrapped around his forehead and he wore no shirt, only some spare pants he'd brought along with his boots. "Stay vigilant!" he advised cheekily. ".. Not a morning person?"

Captain Toad continued to look as dead as a Mummy-me. He jabbed a stick into some meat on a plate he'd prepared and held it over the fire bouncing in his sad little firepit. "I would not venture there, but not working with the Brigade I'm less- on track.."

Luigi sat opposite side of the fire crisscross style. "Think that's rough? All Mario and I had once were rocks to sleep on. Rocks! How much longer is that Tayce T. impersonation gonna take?"

"Until this thing I killed yesterday isn't raw."

"I ate something raw a few minutes ago!" Luigi subtly puffed out his hairless chest.

"Don't do that. You might get sick," he droned.

Luigi deflated. "I was talking about berries." He stood up. "Hurry before we miss Bowser again. Yes I'm really going to walk around like this."

On the hunt for 'The Enemy' they continued. Hidden piranha plants were a potential painful surprise clamping onto their legs while they avoided suspicious huts nestled among the forest on the way to for the river ahead, the body of water flowing through the entire kingdom as a highway. Luigi and Captain Toad hauled a small raft of logs they spent the night on to the river bank and took the plunge. They were violently pulled a five miles down by unpredictable rapids. They got drenched while hanging on for dear life and avoiding Boss Bass. Quickly they approached a tall dam of rocks and were going to crash.

"Abandon ship!" Luigi let go to dip in the river while the raft was torn apart by the boulders. He rose and paddled, looking around. "Stan? STAN?" Heart in his throat, he spotted the Captain atop the dam and rushed to his aid, tossing rocks aside to uncover the toad from the pile the shook him before he spat out a lot of water.

"Mr. Luigi..thank you... But it's..Captain Toad.." he gasped.

He lifted up from the thwomp camouflaged underneath him with a two black eyes fluttering. Branded on a spike was a faded Bowser emblem reminding Luigi of a temporary tattoo. It took them a dozen tugs to eject the stone baddie from the rubble and get him on the muddy shore line.

"Thanks," the thwomp grunted, snapping awake. He saw the duo and looked at them funny for a moment. "Let me take you two to Bowser's camp right now!"

Still shaking from nearly drowning, Captain Toad lowered his pickaxe. "Excuse me?"

"You coming or what?" The thwomp rose in the air a short distance and slammed back down, 'walking' deeper into the forest.

Confusingly they followed the path of thwomp sized intentions in the ground heading north and close the boundary line of something guarded by a barb fence and cameras. A bright spot light aimed around and clearing out much of the mist. Eventually Luigi had to 'go' just missing the opportunity in the water so he let himself trail behind to finish business and catch up. One step on the main path again and Luigi wandered past a laser, causing an alarm to sound.

"For the last time get away from my house and stop stepping on my property and stealing my land and peeing in my plants!" The house rumbled as someone charged down stairs and then out of the doors with massive earthquaking steps.

Having nowhere to run, Luigi braced himself and got ready for the medic bill. "I'm here for the princess and not Bowserrrrrr!"

The goomba skid to a stop a foot away from him. A switch flipped he became a flat faced yet brilliant looking mushroom, believably responsible for the impressive array of electronic surveillance and satellite dishes in the middle of nowhere. "I see you are indeed a hero with such outerwear. Like an action star! I would know my guest, I run five streams of all of the old classics. Please excuse my performance before, the oppressive Koopa Troop are utterly detestable to me!"

Shivering, Luigi peeked through the crack in his fingers. "Umm. Who are you?"

"Richard Goomba Sr. PhD and not the one that visited Mushroom Kingdom hospital East, that was my son with the MKDCU. Is there anything you need my guest?"

Luigi noticed the doctor's yard was like a miniature jungle, or since this was Giant Land a normal sized jungle from his perspective with high grass and curious antiques spread about. Something caught his eye. "Well.."

A deranged shirtless man on a vintage chunk of steel, a WW63 era motorbike with an engine roaring like it was born yesterday, burst into camp making enemies squawk and flee. All they had against him where slingshots at best as he rode by jousting them with a heavy duty plunger, also an WW63 antique. He was _Rambo Mario_, not leaving a single baddie standing without a face full of decades old toilet water.

"That's Luigi!" A hammer brother stumbled out of the outhouse. "Get backup!" Captain Toad swung down from the tree above knocked him out. The toad had been waiting for Luigi to show up, imagining the delay was bad berries.

All of the foes at the camp's gate defeated, Luigi revved up the bike before the Captain. "Pick your jaw up and hop on!"

...

"...That's how you lose fingers, trying to peep into boss' treasures." The long jagged edged knife lay beside him like a silent warning. The actual chests were tucked away deep in the room, next to the dry toilet.

"B-but we're running out of toilet paper! Please please please please-" the koopa subordinate continued endlessly.

He paused, taking a deep breath that made his listeners on edge. "Open it then. Keep bothering me and I'll-"

"Be my guest, Sentry," a third person snapped. "Tell me. What is your real job?"

"-Terrorizing you all!" The lakitu suddenly stabbed the wooden table before him with the blade, making the koopa and magikoopa jump. "Now scram! I claimed this cabin because someone left a pedicure kit in here and I'm gonna use it gosh darn it!"

The koopa and a magikoopa hurriedly left the cabin, the one deepest into Camp Bowser and near the storehouse that burnt.

"Nice try!" Luigi knocked their heads together while Captain Toad kicked the door open again. They both caught the grizzled lakitu hitman gingerly filing his ugly curled nails.

He lifted his head up, only mildly alarmed. "A half naked Mario brother and a toad. Interesting."

They both charged him so he rolled backwards, knocking the pink foot tub containing nail files and bath salts in their way. As they climbed over the clutter, the lakitu nimbly sprung onto his cloud to attack with spiked balls. He went around the table, to them the size of a huge dinette set. Luigi ducked and used his lasso to knock away the spikes raining down. As his kind was known for, the lakitu got the slip out of the window. A second later, they heard a click on the door. Captain Toad rushed to it and tugged. Locked. He swung his pickaxe but it bounced off and created a thin spidery fracture through the steel.

Captain Toad groaned before the placid usual side of him took over. He changed subject. "Since we are immobilized, Mr. Luigi, where'd your bike come from?"

"A Mega Goomba recluse that's a retired doctor, has a skeleton of a human in his home, suspiciously next to the photo hung up of his ex wife, collects war memorabilia, has a pretty good stereo, and watches people take a leak in his garden.." Luigi knocked on wood to feel how dense the door was. "That radio of yours? Lemme borrow it."

...Leaning around a tall, old, and tired oak even older, taller, and more tired than him, the liberated thwomp became astounded at how quiet the camp got in minutes. Just last night he was cooped up with the Koopa Troop on night watch as so-called 'Thwomp #3', gambling for the prize of the peanut butter sandwiches someone snatched from Kammy's picnic basket like the rest of them, and inwardly wishing Bowser went down in the fire at the store house. It'd sure be easier that way, but espionage in Dark Land was never easy. He made his way past the unconscious koopa bodies until the ground shook. He gaped at a the old BeanBean battle tank rolling through the camp gates.

"Tally-hoooo!" Richard Sr. screeched. The tank spun and fired at an empty hut that exploded into flames higher than the canopy.

"Crazy loon!" the thwomp barked, picking himself up. "This is Agent 999 of Super Spy HQ, stop that! Stop that right now- hey!" The agent squeezed his eyes shut as another golden bullet bill whizzed over his head and into another shack. Boom!

"I'm on a koopa scum hunt. WHERE THEY AT?!" Richard went on belligerently.

...Some distance away, Luigi put his ear to the exterior wall. "You hear something funny?"

Captain Toad kept chipping at the rotting chest in the corner next to the bathroom stall. "I'm too busy trying to not _smell_ anything funny." Pieces broken off and water (they hoped) from the toilet joined the bath salts on the ground to form a slush that at the very least smelled 'better' than it looked. Finally the entire axe handle broke off and the flat heavy part of the blade smashed The Captain's toe. He cursed loudly.

Luigi darted away from the wall to the opposite corner. "Sounds about right! Get over here!"

There was a huge bang at the wall being torn in two and falling flat, taking half of the roof with it and sending the mega sized bricks and logs in the sky. Once the dust cleared there was the cannon of the tank aiming at the opposite wall that remained standing. Luigi's back was against it and his chest rose up and down rapidly, teeth in his head clattering.

"T-there were no koopas here. It was us, doctor!"

The small circular hatch opened and Richard Sr. emerged after a tight squeeze wearing a combat helmet. The pipe fell out of his mouth at. "My goodness! This is where they kept you captive?"

"Locked us in. Thanks for.. Oh snap!" Luigi saw little pale arm sticking out of a bunch of wreckage and slung off the planks. The Captain was on top the wooden chest which had shattered from the blunt force of his body into a pile of gold coins, broken glass, and lots of old notes.

"Call..Me..Stan.." Captain Toad fainted, making the most important pieces slip from his hand. There an an old map of Dark Land, Magikoopa rites, and a yellow writing tablet.

Luigi was about to dive down at the messages when Agent 999 barged through the door frame still standing somehow, eyes bloodshot. "You're all under arrest!"

...

"If you think the disasters follow you, why the heck are you bringing it here?"

"Because, Agent, it is called a gambit and it will force cooperation from Mario and associates I doubt I'd get otherwise. In addition the princess may have an artifact of her own that might prove-" Ludwig paused while the owner of the vehicle they were 'borrowing' from made a sound from the trunk. "He can breath back there, correct? I refuse to share a murder charge with you."

Agent M nodded but the Koopaling didn't believe it. Flying down the road in the they drove under a sign stating that the next exit was 'Starman Lane'. Ludwig had bitten all of his claws down to the quick by then thinking over the predicament. "Never mind explanations. Take... that road!... Then let's travel along so and so.."

The pink boo pulled off the exit and into Toad Town, driving along until they were before the post office. "Here? You sure buddy?"

Ludwig pushed the door open and only then remembered that he'd left the gifts for his family miles away at Poshley Heights. "I'm not your buddy. Cease that." He slammed the door.

Agent M smiled at him in return through the open window. "It's a boo thing. Relax."

Ludwig paused and spun around. "You're right. In fact you have my gratitude as I am officially your enemy and you were under no obligation to assist. Would you perhaps wait for me?"

Toad Town was not demilitarized like Poshley Heights so he had a bullseye on his head the moment stepped away from the car and everyone could get a look at who he was. A koopa jogger with a bandage on the back of his head going down the sidewalk pointed at him and called the cops remarkably fast. Rotten mushrooms spontaneously fell on his head from thin air (or maybe it was just citizens tossing them from the apartment across the street). He dashed inside the post office. Parakarry was behind the desk dealing with high stacks of overfilled cabinets towering to the ceiling while a stuffed satchel ready to go hung on a rack.

"Rain, snow, sleet, you get it," he greeted, busily grabbing letters. "What do you need to send off?"

"My message to Mario: I, Prince Ludwig must meet with them or else!"

The mail carrier gave a start when he rose his head and faced the koopaling for the first time. "..You will have to deliver that on your own. Umm, so everything else is already backed up sir," he advised, apprehension masked by professionalism.

Ludwig put his claws to the desk and leaned forward. "And what advice is that? I must meet Mario and company to inform them that I want to meet them?"

Parakarry pulled down a black mesh visor over the desk mildly rude like, closing up right in Ludwig's face. "Sounds like you get it, sir." With a well veiled smirk, Parakarry's wings flapped and took him out the office. Ludwig was forced to simply leave only to find his new 'buddy', the secret agent's car missing, leaving only the oil puddle.

"Curses!" He spun around in front of a snifit holding a taser. "...Oh, what is- bbbbbbppppptttttttttt!" the koopaling sputtered while electricity ripped through his entire body. His blue hair rose, he wet himself, and seconds later he was out!

...

The yellow faded notebook was plopped on a table after the trophies and war conquest medallion were brushed aside, also the ashtray, the remote to the alarm system, and the other remote to the other alarm, the remote to the remote, etc. The doctor's cluttered desk only matched the house they were in.

"_I want tuna for today, I want a sandwich too._" Luigi read a little farther down Dr. Mario's stream of consciousness in written form. "_Last week's pay only fifty coins, but this is the recession… Items used for Megavitamin X: Sulfate, so and so._. That last one. The secret ingredient is koopa scales!"

"Makes sense.." muttered the mega goomba checking under the newspapers covering his windows in a paranoid fashion.

"Yep," the thwomp said plainly, tied up with extra thick extension cords. "I knew you were looking for that missing part for Mario."

Luigi discreetly folded the note. "So you were pretending to work for Bowser to get it yourself?"

"Not exactly, I do this in general to keep HQ on top of the fool. Bowser has no records so no one ever notices an extra thwomp. Only got caught cause this new situation put the troop in closer quarters than usual."

"Mmmm mm mm!" mumbled Captain Toad in the suffocating neck brace.

"What about the storms, toad? To be honest I was offsite 'n I didn't experience roofs peeling personally. I just know it comes out of no where and includes lots of thunder."

"So you're Agent 999 at your HQ, but who's Lieutenant Stone then?" Luigi asked him, holding an ID they'd combed from the rock baddie.

"I am. I use my real title sometimes and it hardly matters. Koopa's dumb as bricks. We're done? My butt itches and I want to go home."

That brought the plumber back to reality. Luigi checked his watch, remembering green pipes in Richard's backyard. "Doctor, thanks for the hospitality and the cool bike and the tank rescue and this weird bullet souvenir you say you pulled from your own heart in the war, but we're on an urgent mission and all and I noticed you had something we can use to get out of here quick..."

...

"Be on guard, partners. We were once delivered a barrel of Ukiki and I was the only guy for the job.." Jr. Troopa announced to Mario and a few of his staff lined up against the South gate the split that land and Toad Town. The teenager followed up with more unnecessary boasts as they half paid attention, impatiently awaiting for a mystery crook to be handed over by the Toad Town police, or rather 'Snifit Patrol'. No one really knew where that masked vigilante came from except that he drove the futuristic and silver car zipping closer down the dusty path. It missed their open gate and instead smashed through the fence beside it.

"Dern it! I just fixed that!" Probabilly yelped.

Mario fanned away the red desert dust while the window rolled down. "Mario! I caught a good one this time!" The snifit inside the vehicle said.

Mario suspiciously shifted towards dark tinted backseat window. "You know, for the last time, it's not a crime for Birdo to use the womens restroom!" he warned.

"No no no no no. I totally learnt my lesson!"

"_And_ Peekaboo badges aren't illegal either, even if you can see people in their underwear with it!"

"Nooooo! Just see!"

The window rolled down and they gaped at Ludwig von Koopa's presence. Though disheveled he was fully awake, 'mean mug' in place expertly. "I will explain and quickly Mario: There is a 'dark star' we are quarry to, _we_ being everyone involved in my Mushroom Flu plot that was fulfilled Friday. This includes even Sam and Slam, remember what happened to Hotel Delfino? Maybe not, the local news is congested and someone would rather hear an asinine sales pitch about the Mushroom Mall than the pain and suffering of islanders thousands of miles away- Ah hem. Where 'we' go is marked to get attacked by catastrophic gale forces and I need your help to resolve this and save my family's lives. Am I clear?"

Mario and Jr. Troopa could only stare.

"Soooo, want me to bring him into town down here?" Snifit officer inquired.

Mario and Jr. Troopa could only nod.

…

Yoshi, the blue and yellow toads, and Toadette, the last of which decided to visit briefly were at the checkers table for a team game out at a somewhat isolated area of the land, in the shade of the water tower and away from the bustling town square or Southern hospital. It was Buckenberry and Toadette's red side verses Alagold and Yoshi's black side.

"I don't think I make others walk on eggshells generally, but I put on a vibe earlier and it wasn't a good one." Yoshi vented while making random moves whenever it was his go. "So, I just want them to know that I love them and I wouldn't want to hurt them like that ever again. It's simple as that."

Buckenberry then made a poor move. Toadette pinched his ear closest to her. "You're so dumb Blue! Don't move right in front of their king!" She recollected herself politely. "-Sorry Yoshi. Keep talking about whoever you're talking about. It's Birdo, right?"

Yoshi froze from the little stab in the heart. His 'fiance' _was _indeed someone he'd ticked off but not the only and not the one he'd thought of much since running away. "...Suuuuure." He quickly made a move on the board and, based on Toadette and Buckenberry's simultaneous groan, the dinosaur realized that he'd just won the game.

Then noises they'd been hearing all along got louder, similar pipes clanging. Yoshi craned his neck upwards at the water tower where the vibrations originated. Everyone abandoned the game at the table and leaped out of the way as the tower emitted a deep gurgling sound. A spot on the ground got darker before a spout of water shot up high in the sky. It happened in another spot as they ran for frantically towards the nearest help, which was a phone booth a block down caked in dust from lack of use.

Yoshi picked it up and all the toads crammed inside while geysers kept popping up. "Hello? Someone pick up!"

"Hello? Yoshi?" Luigi answered on the other end. "Cool, timing pal. How'd you know I just got home? Listen, tell Mario the secret thing is koopa scales! Okay? Koopa scales!"

The dinosaur realized he must have called Mario's house phone out of habit. That was sad or impressive, he wasn't sure. "I'm glad you're okay! But we're not!- We're-"

"-So much static, what?"

"I said- Ahhhh!" The call disconnected when a geyser erupted right underneath them all, sending the booth up and away to the 'moon'- actually a nearby billboard advertising a Broadway adaptation of Super Mario Galaxy. It still hurt though.

...

Splash! Lemmy rose to the top of the water. "Geronimo!" he said after the fact to the annoyance of his father. Deep in paradise, this was the Koopaling's fifth dunk in the water coming off of a palm branch.

Lounging in a beach chair, Bowser spared abusing his vocal cords. Roy was still out with what was left of his army and his other kids were doing whatever. He was tired of reflecting on his future, how he would reestablish things, IF he should even try, reflecting of the allies he did have, didn't have, and of reflecting on not reflecting on anything. Bowser turned to the princess to his left, chained to a beach chair, when she pat her forehead with a clothe. She'd melted nearly as tropical sun beat down and she adamantly refused to change out of her long pink dress.

"What?" Peach said in a low but curt tone.

"Uh, getting uncomfortable? Want a fan or somethin'?"

"I could use less 'fans' if you are included in that."

Bowser gave a snort. "Cute. Anyway, we need some transport don't we Hotness?" he ventured awkwardly. "I heard there's a legendary canoe around. Ever considered like love boat or something?"

"Why are you pestering her? Have not you done enough?" Toadsworth's tiny arms gripped the bars to his cage.

"Shuddup old man!" Bowser rose angrily, fist balled.

Kamek under a palm tree was snoring in his snug wearable blanket. Subconsciously the magikoopa shut up.

"-I mean my future old man- forget it! Gahhh!"

Roy and the squad marched through the shallow blue water connecting the various islands raising their spoils: palms, paddle boards, small crates of supplies, and lastly the Water Land king's long green robe. Roy dropped it before his father, letting it gently fall into a bundle. "We ran 'em out so quick dey were just diving into da drink to get away. Then we chased 'em some more. So, yeah.."

Bowser examined the garment with nods of approval following. "That's golden." His son lingered around digging his feet into the sand. "So what's the problem?"

"Uh- nothin'."

"Then act like it," Bowser remarked bluntly.

Lemmy completed his swimming laps around Wendy floating on a tube sipping lemonade and around Morton silently tubing and reading, then Lemmy out of the water to dry off. He couldn't shake it or ignore it. He'd quickly developed a big brother instinct and it was going off..

...On another Water Land cay a fifteen year old leaned against an abandoned toad house. To pass the time, Larry watched rolling waves or fantasized about being in a speeding sports car while waiting for his important secret call back. Iggy was around at one point but the elder brother walked off with his watch invention thing. Iggy was on another planet anyway. It shouldn't have been that way Larry thought, just a three year age difference and they shared interests: video-games, internet, hot girls, gadgets, fighting, and pranks, yet their conversations dissolved frequently into Iggy muttering 'weeb talk' at a thousand words per minute and Larry popping in his headphones- which Iggy would fail to notice-

"BOO! Hehehe! What are you doing?!" Junior popped out of nowhere.

Larry shoved him back, heart still racing from the shock. "You little dweeb! Quit it!"

"Oww! You're gonna be a- what's that word? Re-bal, aren't you? I'm gonna tell!" the six year old countered, rubbing his cheek.

"Do it! King Dad takes you to a stupid retarded ugly ol beach now you're back on his side, GTFO. I don't need annoying little brothers like you anyway!"

Junior covered his mouth with a flush. "You said a bad word!" he squealed.

"Shh!" Larry picked up his cell. "Hello Mushroom Caterers? We want the wings, the ribs, the booze, everything. Bring it to Water Land, can't miss us. Gotcha baby. Bye."

Sentry 11 slowly rose over the horizon. His balaclava was missing, revealing a round and very untanned middle aged lakitu face graced with a greying fuzzy little mustache.

"What is that gross thing?" Larry felt his skin crawl once the lakitu was close enough to see that detail.

"You'll learn when you're actually a man. Now, wait till boss hears how Green Mario found the old base and I had to lock him in with our loot."

Larry pulled his meanest look to no effect. "Well that's what's credit cards for, gramps!"

"Credit cards..." Junior repeated, squeezing tightly his father's Master Plan card. Many expensive toys were snuck onto the platinum slab of plastic without Bowser noticing.

When they met back at base Bowser had decided to not cry over spilled Moo Moo milk and would make Water Land the new Dark Land. He directed a layout where a platform could go, a fortress, and more, before learning that his stuff was looted back at Giant Land and his army was halved yet again. The island shook like a volcano awakening and the flames from Bowser rivaled the heat of one.

"I knew it! Mario was practically next door and you thought I was overreacting!?" Bowser lashed out. "EVERYONE ASSEMBLE. NOW!" The tropical island got packed with every mook the Koopa King still had to his name resulting in a little group."We're having the wedding to night and NOTHING will stop it. NOTHING!"

…

The koopa paratroopa slowly approached the dark spider web filled corridor. He had a limp from an old injury but his stance was strong. The human plumber gave him a nod and then closed the door, sealing them in. A leaking valve was just before them, gushing and making the floor flood with a foot a water.

Then Mario turned the valve with light effort. Something rumbled briefly but the water stopped. One eyebrow rose. "...That was easy."

Probabilly wrapped half a roll of thick duct tape around the dripping spot. "Usually is, Mr. Hero. If half the folks had a brain- I wouldn't have a job!"

Mario didn't expect that response, nonetheless they shared a high five. Once out the corridor they received a round of applause as well from the hospital staff plus others he didn't expect.

Mario rushed to one of the tallest in the crowd, hugging him tight.

"Big bro! You'll looking rougher than me!" Luigi said, smiling ear to ear. "Did you help Yoshi and hear what I told him?"

Mario pulled back a little flustered. "No? I've been busy just now. Someone apparently dropped their Mario Galaxy Note 7 cellphone down the city's main septic tank or.. or something. Who the heck would do that?" People began agreeing with the famous hero. Vick at that moment quietly escaped the utility home, whistling and hoping no one would notice. Mario waved a hand. "Just kidding. Mistakes happen. Anyway, what happened to Yoshi again?"

...Moments later, someone finally located a ladder long enough for the billboard twenty feet in the sky. It seemed old and wobbly but it was 'reliable as they come, pard', Mario was told. It was planted in place for the four stranded on the walkway in front of the colorful Broadway show graphic, ecstatic to be rescued finally.

"Old friend, I ought to fire myself for not keeping an eye on you, you and the toads. Oh Eldstar, I got you kids dramatized!" Mario apologized even before the green dinosaurs boot, singular as one go flung off during the who geyser thing, touched the ground. Mario could see the impact sight up there. It was gnarly. Blue and Yellow Toad decidedly slid down the ladder daringly but Toadette hesitantly, though she insisted she didn't have a heights problem afterwards.

"Mario. Forget it. I'm the one that's sorry." Yoshi ignored any aches and hugged the plumber.

Luigi poked his head around them, confused at what was going on. "Umm. Guys? Should we get on that koopa scale secret ingredient thing? And someone just told me Ludwig is locked up down here right now. What else did I miss? The sky falling?"

...

That's when Kylie Koopa stopped eavesdropping on Mario and crew from her top secret secluded... bush. The water tower area was sort of her hideout before the pipe issue. Now it was too wet to be of use and it was getting late and there were little to no lamp posts for her to see her strictly handwritten notes, never getting big into the digital thing. 'Prince Ludwig visits Toad Town' was a head line cooked up, and ignored her phone for some time before finally checking. She had a cryptic message to meet in the moo moo field..

"Babe. Aren't ya happy to see me?" He smirked.

Kylie almost turned around and left without a word but something in his tone convinced her otherwise. "I didn't need your help, Mitch."

"Any word on Sarasaland?"

She put a hand on her hip. "I was busy dealing with local stuff. But no."

"You needed my help," the toad chuckled. He rolled his wheelchair away in a random direction, at least to her.

Kylie followed. "Important things are happening and I'm missing it because of you. How'd you even get here?!"

"I took the new intersection through Subcon, duh." He joked before stoppingin the middle of the field. "Boo, why are you hiding?"

At his command, a boo diddly appeared before them with rosy cheeks. "I was gonna meet Luigi, but- then I screwed up- And he was talking and I felt I… D-don't tell Luigi I'm here!"

"You'll pull through when it's your time. Scram, kid."

Kylie blocked the toad's way before he could move on. "I ain't heard an answer to what you're doing yet."

He looked her in the eyes. "Oh me? Something dangerous, maybe impertinent but needs to be done. I'll probably get hurt again too. My usual style."

She breathed out slowly. "..And that's the problem, brother. When Jelectro was playing games with me I was madder than a red chomp but then I found out what happened was because you put yourself on the line for me. You're like that snapping Venus Firetrap that pops up every summer or the red peppers that Club 64 always put in my sandwiches by mistake. I don't like em at times but I'd be incomplete without em. Same with you. I can't lose ya, Mitch! Whatever's going on is crazy, brother. Feel it in my bones."

"You right, babe," he started gently before easing back to his typical darker tone. "I just hoped you'd wheel me to the top of Mt. Rugged for my research topic. Nothing _too_ strange, I promise. I think you'll like it more than me even."

Kylie fought against the one tear threatening to roll down her face. "Alright, sucker. You get five minutes at the top and then it's back to you know, the ground where normal people like to be, even if I have to drag ya."

Up the winding path they went as it approached evening time as the sky went from blue to orange red. After the trek and with the assistance of some elevators, they were at the flat top of the mountain and could see the landscape below.

"Happy?" She panted.

Mitch rolled a little farther towards the East with his eyes closed. Kylie could then feel a sort of energy in the air and knew exactly what he was doing. He'd done such a thing to solve the mystery of the mystery boxes when they were still dating in college. She dove down as a sound boomed very loudly.

"YOUR MEDDLING IS FOOLISH, MORTAL."

An invisible force knocked them both back, tumbling many times across brambles and pebbles. It was a looooong way down, Kylie tucked in her shell could have taken a power nap it seemed in the time it took to stop near little drainage pit at the bottom. Adrenaline pumping she saw the outline in the dark of a wheelchair bent in half with a body sprawled face down next to it.

Mitch groaned when she frantically turned him over. "I'm o-okay, babe."

"Lies! What's that red… all over you?" Kylie became breathless. Her hands from touching him were slimy and darker.

"Like I said..I'm okay," he answered.

...On the other side of the globe General Ming had done every unimportant activity he could to pass time. The missing card key would flash in his mind maybe once or twice while dusting Daisy's sports trophies or organizing the guest sheets but it was never a priority until work was finished and he was bored. Finally he risked going outside to check their weapons bunker a short walk from the castle when something sidetracked him, dark cloud like smoke right over the old crumbling temple. He'd never worshiped there and didn't think anyone had in a long time, yet someone had the audacity of burn something there and likely get him blamed? Not on his watch!

He marched up the stairs where moss and smooth stone intertwined then in between stone columns where there was the center roofless opening. He smelt no smoke and heard no crackling as he got closer to the swirling formation in sky.

Ming froze. General Sǐwáng was at the eye of the vortex above, a bombshell koopa with a monocle and a dark goatee in a Victorian suit. The rocketon had a few seconds to think that this was an ambassador and that he was making a bad first impression before he was struck with a bolt of lightning. Ming fell out cold.

General Sǐwáng leisurely stepped up the secretary with a walking stick. "Jolly good. I was looking for this!" he said in a deep but posh and decidedly English tone. He pocked gladly the key to the missile launchers in the weapons bunker.

...

Ludwig had hummed Reprisal in A minor from start to finish for the second time, which meant he'd been locked up in Southern Mushroom Kingdom for hours given how long his piece was. The crack of light grew from the closed cell door opening and it was Mario.

"Turns out you're promoted, koopa! Come on!"

Ludwig was dragged outside and to a barn of all places. This wasn't just any agricultural building because this one glowed _green_.

* * *

**To be continued..**

**Created: 7/9/19, 7/10, 7/11, 7/12, 7/15, 7/17, 7/18, 7/22, 7/23, 7/26, 7/29, 7/31**

**8/1, 8/4, 8/22, 8/23, 9/1, 9/2, 9/15, 9/30, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3**

**Edited: 6/5/20**


	15. The Missing Piece

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**T****he Missing Piece**** (Chapter 15)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

**Author note: a few errors fixed from initial upload.**

**...**

"I have a proposal!" Ludwig refused to budge just outside the barn door, the first time they'd stopped scuttling through the night. "First of all you do believe me, right?"

Mario placed one hand on the door with a sigh. "Maybe. I guess," he answered coldly.

"I would not deceive, the Mushroom Flu plot bringing us to this present moment involved no deception."

"You poisoned sodas and had your Zoo Diddley joker doing party tricks."

"-_Almost_ no deception.. You know Zoo perished to the dark star that spawned. -The one _I_ spawned," Ludwig admitted candidly, his voice missing the boom it normally had. "-Mario, are you getting it? If we fail to redirect my family will be.. Okay if you have no compassion think of this then, next I will be the target and guess where I am? Here!"

Mario had never seen him seem so pedestrian. He felt a brief daze because of how real it all became then and released the breath he'd been holding. "I wasn't trying to be heartless or anything but we need your scales for the cure."

The koopaling's eyebrows moved downward in complexed frustration. "I was convinced Dr. Mario was only joking in those notes you obviously stole somehow, after all I was present during the first outbreak! I saw him and his work or rather his lack of work..."

"So will you do it?" Mario cringed to ask. "There's no way you're going to convince the whole gang-"

"-That any utterance of mine is perhaps in their benefit. So ein Mist."

Ludwig stepped inside on his own where his nose burned from the smell of acid along with typical barn odors. The area was a temporary lab of the Special World Hospital where he attended their workshops on occasion all the way near Star Road. As they refused once to duplicate Dr. Prof. Koopa's teleportation potion Bowser made famous in Super Mario 64, his feelings were quite lukewarm.

Prof. X-Naut blocked his path quickly. "Ludwig? I knew you would use your unprecedented ability to reverse engineer virus samples for evil!"

Amused, Ludwig decked the smaller man then stepped around the grumbling body. "I reverse engineered nothing this time, Morris. I just found a local poison that did the... same thing.." he trailed off. Next he knew his scaly right hand was in the grasp of Dr. Toad, or 'Drew' as he knew from both being the same age more or less and being into tabletop war strategy games at hobby shops.

"We appreciate your cooperation and we'll make sure you're slightly less uncomfortable than most of our patients."

Ludwig knew there was a reason he sort of 'liked' Drew, aside from the toad being the only one ever to beat him in Battleship. The other two doctors nodded stiffly while staying far back against the wall. Lastly, Ludwig tossed his _Ex spatio obiecti specialem_ book to Mario standing behind so unobtrusive he was almost forgotten. Holding the weighty damaged book Mario turned to a page dogeared just for him and noticed a passage.

'_Sta__r beings__ mold the__world with wonderful chaotic purpose or wonderfully without __perceptible __purpose. Dark Stars hold similar power and, aware of the greater forces, have been record__ed__ as doing __the same__ for their own s__inister motivations__..'_

…

One island of a tropical area called Water Land glowed orange in the night by hundreds of burning palm branches, each individually engulfed in time for Bowser and Peach's wedding. The bride and groom stood on a sand mound with accessories of colorful flower necklaces and the remaining Koopa Troop as the audience. Peach faced Bowser and no one at all at the same time, disassociated and watching everything play out like a curious twisted little tale. The monstrous koopas and goombas leering and usually warranting a fear response were regular faces to her because, as she recalled, she'd grown up with such types as a little girl. Whatever happened to them? Why did they.. disappear?

"Finally I can see!" Kamek received a silver electronic torch from Iggy. Its blue beam when switched on illuminated their entire vicinity awesomely, swallowing up the amber lighting and assaulting many eyeballs. Peach bluntly returned to lucidness in time to be half blinded.

"This device is splendid, Lord Bowser. I had a vision of something this amazing. Or maybe it was an as seen on TV commercial-"

Bowser shielded his face with one hand. "-Old man, are you alright? Calm down, shine that stupid light the other way, and ask the dang vows!"

Kamek jut the book out. "Do you take Princess Peach as your- Ah, I forgot something. Any objections? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Steam shot out of Bowser's nose. "I don't care what any of you think!"

"I have objections anyway you brute!"

Bowser's teeth grind, about snatch Toadsworth right out of the audience and strangle him when-

"King Dad, I request to object! We should be using this time to get to the other side of the globe, vacate, leave the premises just like Zheng Koopa does in my book!" Morton exclaimed.

Iggy mysteriously counted something on his fingers. "..What he said.."

"We should have set up somewhere else though," Wendy mentioned, trying to sound unbothered. "This is the blandest island and the pictures are going to be fug!"

Roy stood arms crossed on the edge of the front row with the standoffish demeanor he'd had all day until he couldn't take it anymore. "Alright! I'm missing home real bad, okay? I'm tired of running all over da place and I miss all my old Koopa Ball buddies in Dark Land. I'm sick of waitin' for whatever else is gonna go wrong!"

"We'll just be picked off like fly guys!" one mook in the crowd went and got many agreements.

"YOU'RE ALL RUINING MY WEDDING! AGAIN!" Bowser screamed, veins popping. "Is there really a reason why I should not marry Peach?! Right! There isn't!" In rapid stomp mode many torches fell over and he pulverized the sand props.

"Bowser, you forgot about the most important objection!" Peach yelled over the commotion.

Bowser looked her in the eyes intensely but gently, shaking in restraint. "What what what?" he cried.

"Mine. If you really care for me, you know why." She boldly spun on her heels and walked to the shore alone, leaving a vacuum in the air. Bowser witnessed her strutting farther way, immobilized by some part of him inside that was intent to remind that, yes, he would always be a loser, the fifth wheel between Peach and-

"Mario.." Bowser's bitter anger for the first time became a deep introspective sadness. That was so much worse. Being irate all of the time was normal but this terrible new feeling froze him in time. He hardly heard his children's ruckus and the disbanding crowd.

"King Dad, don't worry! We'll get her!" Lemmy sputtered. He punched and tugged on some of his siblings to drag them.

Facing the water Peach saw.. a light? Attracted by the torch Kamek had shining far up into the sky and reflecting back on the clouds was an unmarked white boat sailing. With an enticing scent it pulled up the short island dock.

Sentry 11 lurking in the shadows lowered his binoculars. "Boss! Food catering's here!"

"Who wants those hot wings?!" A voice asked from inside the motor craft. Dozens of the Koopa Troopa frantically waded over to the boat and passed Peach, stepping over toes, to where an unseen person loaded up their plates, hands, napkins, empty shells, whatever, with wings, drumsticks, ribs, and barbecue.

An ice cold blue can labeled '3 Moons' materialized in Bowser's hand.

"It's on the House. Chug it, dad!" Larry winked just before Roy tackled him and Lemmy rushed over.

"King Dad! Oh no read the label!"

Bowser crushed the already empty can, head beginning to spin. "Three.. MOONs! Duh!... Urp. Excuse me… 100% alcohol. 100% sugaarr...!" His two children kept drifting away but really he was woozily moving around and stumbled into Peach at the shore. With his blurry vision all he made out was the red and blue of her flower necklace. "Marrrio.. you're looking.. hot!"

Peach dodged when he lunged for a kiss and he kept on falling forward and over the pier into the water. Peach slung off her high heels and sprinted down the dock. She jumped onboard into the boat, the interior filled high-tech radars, radios, and mounted weapons! The red capped toad at the controls spun his chair around. He seemed very young but was dressed in all black gear and seemed to know what he was doing. Their ship began to drift away from Bowser Island when Peach remembered something missing, as essential as a hand or foot. Toadsworth. Would he understand the make or break decision? Could they attempt to return? She dared to look back out to the sea and noted dreadfully that they definitely couldn't return.

Back on the island, "Heck yeah, I punked all y'all!" Larry yelled at his siblings surrounding him with angry faces.

"Speaking of punks, that's what you are," Lemmy growled. "We need to fish dad up and get Peach back. Now everyone!"

Morton and Roy both dove into the water for Bowser idly floating along. Wendy and Iggy saw the ship reduced by distance to a small silhouette. Iggy wound up the crown on his watch invention. Boing! Spring retention slung the hands backwards, stopping time in their immediate proximity for ten seconds before the world flowed again. This disturbance created a gush of water on the shore.

"Noooooo!" Lemmy wailed as the wave crashed over everyone. Larry made a break to the other half of the island when two mooks appeared in his path, a koopatrol and toad.

"Larry, sir! I request you stop!"

Larry punched Tanner, bruising his fist instead. "Oww! Stupid little.." He tried to tackle but Tanner didn't bulge either. Instead he got punched in the gut, knocking the wind from him and he fell back.

"You're a traitor so...uh.. you're going back where they can, like, tell us what to do next," Emery 'warned' him with much more practice needed.

"Go home to your mama!" Larry spat, picking himself up to run again.

"My mother doesn't love me!" the toad girl screamed.

"Whatever!" Larry kept running through shallow water onto the next connected island where it was pitch black, rebellion and the strange feeling that he was doing something 'good' pressing him on like a super charged battery. On reaching uncharted territory he trampled fresh vegetation and island flowers. There was another dock and there was something at it, a large and long canoe that could fit a lot of people. He raced down the dock and grabbed the edge, not believing it was real. Climbing onboard he severed the rope keeping it tethered to the dock and drifted away, grabbing an oar or two to get further into water. He could hear the low roar of many feet shuffling in the sand getting closer while, though it was just a clear starry night, there was thunder and a breeze picking up. He heart just about stopped, could he with the only getaway abandon the rest?

...

All it took was for Mario to announce to less than ten people that they'd worked something out to cause a major stir in the entire area. Few knew of the many translucent blue scales that had to be ground into powder or of the frothing green liquids or of the questionable scientists behind it all, rather interested in what was happening other than the typical 'princess kidnapped' story. The Sarasaland princess was first laid gently into the invention designed to emit a vapor on the subject. Access to the barn was limited but Mario suspected Buckenberry of live streaming yet embarrassingly didn't know enough about it to tell him to quit.

"If this crazy thing launches into space or explodes, I'm gonna get you," Luigi threatened.

Prof. X-Naut gave a thumbs up. There was a pop then a bang as the inside of the chamber got cloudier. After a few agonizing seconds the doors were kicked open.

"Did you smoke bomb my bedroom? Again?" Daisy wailed, angrily flinging on to Luigi, the nearest person, and rolling together to the ground.

"Daisy, you're okay!" he screamed back, embracing her as the few there, Mario, Yoshi, Buckenberry, and Jr. Troopa gathered around.

Disheveled but lively she stared back. "W-where am I? What happened to the tennis game?"

Toad Toad was next, wheeled inside the chambers to get his steam treatment. Peach's toad secretary stumbled right back out, fanning away the smoke.

"Who burnt that pizza, homeboys? We won, right?"

More were cured one after the other. Someone completely knocked out would leave the machine walking and talking and also thinking the date was two days ago.

"This is almost going _too_ well.." Dr. Toad muttered spontaneously. "On record Dr. Mario developed and administered cure in a day while our Mushroom Flu that has advanced in the subjects for three days yet has not seemed to progress-

"Drew, please," Dr. Topper cut in. Inwardly he'd perseverate that long ago as the puzzle specialist. Their way of dealing with a fungal induced virus was unorthodox but if it had all worked out why be overly concerned about _the missing piece_? Even if it was several pieces rather.. "We've worked our butts off to get to here and this is a pretty big accomplishment especially for you younger guys so.. Just stop complaining is all I mean."

Dr. Goom in a rare moment nodded in agreement and seemed pleasant for a shady goomba. "At last a favorable report might be obtained for our Special World Hospital."

"Ah you think? Even after that controversial surgery on Tubba Blubba?" Prof. X-naut thought nostalgically.

"...Morris you were the one who screwed that up swapping the wrong heart!... And don't say that too loud!" Dr. Toad hissed.

"Sorry to interrupt over there, but I think we're done doctors!" Mario waved from the other side of the lab. All of the sick patients were taken care of and sent to the sea of spectators collecting their loved ones. The news was already on the Toad Town message boards, but Mario had one more surprise in store. He held up some of his friends only to a quiet corn field, unintentionally spooky this late, and this time made sure no one was recording or doing anything else weird.

"Okay, so I was vague before but you really want to know how this was all possible?"

Luigi stepped forward with caution. "Mario, what is going on?"

His brother whistled for the signal so Ludwig very slowly, movement hindered by the bandages all over his back, emerged from a row of the produce. As he inched closer grimacing, the crowd acted as though he was the Underchomp seeking to take away all of their extra lives and screeched. Ludwig with a look of 'oh crap' scuttled off again. He reentered a corn maze with his perfect night vision, but lacking an internal compass he got lost. He considered sleeping the night there in the middle when someone advanced on him.

Captain Toad switched his headlamp on a lower setting. "It's just me, Mr. Koopa. Regarding your special objects lexicon, I had Hint Toad send me a complete PDF. The spot you marked in your personal copy was very interesting."

Ludwig resisted the urge to attack, intrigued of what could be an erudite conversation with the parvenu of Mario and company. He waited for the Captain to keep speaking but instead he lurched forward with something in his hands. Ludwig caught a glimpse in the moonlight of the sharp hunting blade. He felt a mix of dread and a dull pain in his bones that he'd felt before and slipped in between the stalks again.

Just on the other side of the field, "-And did I say we were saints like Dr. Mario? We fulfilled our end, which was with Dr. Toadley and not you anyway, to oversee the development of a solution to the Mushroom Flu during our stay and then leave. Like now." Dr. Toad told Jr. Troopa, exiting the gates for the last time and ending the argument that had spawned over nothing. The other doctors had packed up and went ahead. Now blades in the distance were rapidly spinning up, flatting out corn in the maze.

"I mean, you kind of did an okay job I guess." Jr. Troopa gave a curt nod, not wanting to stand down except he never had anything to stand on in the first place. This was why he preferred his rivalry with Mario because the deep connection they had was.. not really much either, just him wanting to be the best in a shallow way. He removed his cowboy hat with his head down, feeling really immature when he heard something coming up.

The helicopter had taken flight, not visible anymore against the sky so the corn was standing up again and he couldn't see over it. The object, far to fast to be a moo moo, which should be sleep anyway, zig zagged somewhere ahead of him. He tried to follow it but he had nothing on him except a short rope on his belt. He tied a knot expertly in the dark and slug it upwards in the sky, taking a guess at a location and tossing it that way. He missed once and then twice and then something was hooked. It emitted a deep growl and the teenager's eyes opened wide when charging at him in the clearance came a koopaling!

...

"So yeah, some 'historian' came to my castle one day and said he did free metal detecting crap. He picked up something in my backyard and I was like, yeah see what it is but that was a few weeks ago and whoever I asked just kept digging and digging!" Daisy explained, seated on the bed hugged up in covers even though the ambient was warm. Like most others just cured, she wasn't perfect. "I felt so bad because they just went _crazy_. I thought they'd dig through the planet until they stopped at a tomb. It took dynamite to blast the sucker open and then after all that the treasure vanished out of thin air. It was hard to see before going poof but I think it was an old rusty bell.."

"I think our toads saw that item in the hands of Zoo Diddley. Yeah, he had that bell." Mario's recovery room where he held the gathering didn't have that many present but it felt crowded somehow anyway so he stood at the window and mounted wagon wheel. "It gets worse, one of your generals I've never heard before threatened me on the phone earlier."

Daisy slapped her head lightly, but kept most of it all in.

"..So what else did we miss aside from the whole world falling apart?" Toad added, shaking slightly from the tremor problem some developed as a side effect.

Mario's gaze drifted outside lowly. "Daisy, I missed that message on your wall saying that you didn't really want a tennis game. We might not even be here now if-"

"Don't dig up old mistakes," Yoshi told him. "Or you'll end up like me."

Luigi began to fidget with his fingers. "Daisy, maybe you're not in enough shape to travel but you can maybe talk some sense into your people. Kylie has to still be snooping around and she hooked Mario up to your town earlier."

Daisy threw the covers off with a wave of relief. "Why didn't you say so?" She hooked her arm in his. "Just lead the way!"

"No problem," he replied with a flat expression but revealing red cheeks. "Let me see if I can get her." Mario opened the window to get some air when those two briefly left. Someone whispered his name in what he guess was supposed to be a soft tone but it came out very dry and gruff.

"Ludwig?" he whispered back. Faintly he could see the outline of the koopaling.

"Jr. Troopa tried to 'rodeo' me. Am I using that right? I shook him off then punched him, but I digress. In his sheriff's office, which I might have infiltrated while he was whimpering and tending to his busted lip, I tuned into a rather respectable weather radar. There is a storm currently in Water Land!"

"It's tropical. It happens."

"Yes but Vater was last seen there. Is it so natural now when the dark star intensifies its efforts to ensure its purpose, even diverting its power _through _your Captain Toad who tried not long ago to knife me?"

"Huh?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "_A__rsch__mit ohren_! You did not read the book at all! It spells it out so clearly. Since I was effected the night I created the dark star, I believe I am now sensitive to it's workings. Your Captain tried to harm me, I would say be wary of him but realistically if any of us should fail to be aware the stars we could be an instrument of evil next."

Mario was at that point halfway leaning out long forgetting he was trying to hold a secret conversation. Green hands pulled him back in. "Yoshi," he gasped. "We have to help Ludwig and by that extension Bowser!"

Everyone stared at him, even Luigi who'd walked back in stuck mid conversation. The phone kept buzzing from the person on the other side, Kylie Koopa.

"This is Princess Daisy. Hello?" Daisy held the receptor to her ear as Kylie finally got her switched all the way to across the Mushroom World. Technology was awesome, the princess thought, feeling sort of old. "Hello? How is everyone? Are they still digging?"

"Oh, princess!?" the unfamiliar lady on the other end exclaimed. "I'm Nass your new in house nurse and assistant. Some person in a waist coat hired us an hour ago! Yes they are excavating but it will be fine because I will be tracking every visitor you will love the data sheets!"

Daisy flushed angrily. "Just let me speak to whoever's in charge now!"

After sounding offended the nurse switched the line. "HELLO? WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING TO ME PRINCESS?"

"What the heck is this?" the brunette replied in kind, the ugly and grating English accented voice on the other end like a distorted version of how the 'historian' with the metal detector sounded. "Who are these people answering my phone? And.. wait my castle only has one phone! What number is this?"

"HAHAHAHAHA. TAKE A GIFT. TA TA."

Luigi's phone slipped from her hands to the floor as a black mist seeped through the speaker wholes. Everyone stepped back from it as it sizzled and the plastic melted into a charred lump sinking into the wood flooring. Almost thinking she'd caused such a thing for a moment, Daisy stepped closer and leaned over it.

"Oh gods, sorry Luigi.. I hope your private pictures of tropical beaches were.. 'backed up in the clouds'? Whatever that means."

Luigi just pulled her close comfortingly, shaking his head. "I'm just glad you're okay." And also that he'd found someone like him that knew nothing about phones.

"I caught all of that!" exclaimed Ludwig creeping from the window. "Do you all believe the power of the dark star now?"

Mario wiped the sweat off of his forehead and his heart was still pounding. "What can we do against that?"

"Peach's jewel hold is a type of artifact holding some sliver of power of stars, Mario. Which you would know if you read the freaking book.." Ludwig muttered annoyingly. "For those of you unaware I will recap, Daisy's backyard Doom Reverb returned to the hands of Zoo Diddley, a custodian at Bowser Castle. It works on the principle of ownership so Zoo possessed it at some point in the past and lost it as he admitted to me. I'll spare dramatics with the next part, but he perished and the dark star from the bell is free. Questions?"

Toad, Yoshi, Luigi, and Daisy rose their hands.

"-You all are brilliant, thank you for not dragging this out," Ludwig continued, wearing a smug smile. "If we could acquire Peach's jewel and expediently, perhaps we can intercept whatever is currently happening in Water Land. A warp pipe should take us straight there, correct?"

Mario hated to disappoint.. "It's not a single land mass so our warp pipe only goes to the boarder of Desert Land leading out the perfect place for it to flood with water in hot seasons like now. Still, we can get the jewel at least because it's in storage."

"You know I stopped using pagers when my rap song failed in the nineties.. Oh, I don't know where I was going with that," Daisy spoke randomly. "Here's what I meant to say. If the dark star follows Bowser or whatever, and as koopa over there claims it came from the bell that was in my backyard, how is it still at my castle at the same time?"

With a flush Ludwig wished they did drag it out after all. "An explanation, er, evades me."

Mario spun around at who was at his door, Kylie Koopa and a toad he didn't really know both covered in bandages and the toads wheelchair was badly mangled looking. Still Kylie beamed while leaning in the door frame.

"This scoop's just in! There's two dark stars, that's why! Mitch right here confirmed it and I overheard that jewel stuff too. You might wanna rescue Peach real soon if you want to use it. You don't wanna know what happens if someone unauthorized uses her jewel, brother."

Mario doubted that. It was stupid as he was not an expert to decide such a thing but there was an arrogant side of him that took over in that moment. Inside a store building that had been given to them where random things from the toads, clothes, vases from the castle, some items, the green Bowser racket Luigi added there and the jewel in the shoe box. Holding the pink hued diamond shaped jem felt refreshing albeit laced with something uneasy for all of two seconds before it changed. He felt like he was about to black out and dropped it and of a sudden, now afraid to touch it.

Somewhat shamefully he stepped back outside with the jewel in a box to meet with his crew. Their game plan was to rescue Peach, stop the dark star #1 from chasing Bowser using the jewels power then lure the other dark star to them to do it all over. So simple on paper, literally even as Ludwig was convinced him and his friends were too stupid to remember otherwise, but a single detail gave the plumber apprehension.

Ludwig used pencil.

"Mario?"

Mario cleared his throat. He must have zoned out while dozens, his friends, enemies, and civilians were watching to see what their hero's stance on the matter was. "I know it's the middle of the night and.. we're tired..and we don't like Bowser.. and we don't like the high chance of failure... So if we don't rescue Peach today-" Mario started.

"What? Will we have a world flood or something?" Some that didn't experience the Luigi's murderous melting phone responded belligerently.

Mario smiled weakly, the gleam in his eyes returning. "Come on, that's silly.."

...

The next wave hit the boat so hard, Peach would have flipped out was she not already buried under all of the equipment getting shook off their mounts and toppling over her. The toad called Agent Toad tried keeping them on top of the massive waves but only so much was physically possible. The down pour was like a standing under a waterfall and she couldn't discern a direction they were going, only a light source behind a thickened fog. Another splash shook her up again, bringing to the top of the pile a warp whistle. Immediately she blew the thing, but water only shot out of it like a slippy straw with no noise.

"Mayday!" Agent Toad yelled over the winds of the typhoon. He donned complete scuba gear in flash. "Mmm mm mm mm?" He lifted the snorkel up. "Sorry. Do you think you could swim to the nearest continent from here?"

There was another crash as the object following them with the light, a long canoe rammed them in a collision that was likely accidental with both parties blind. Hull breached, the their spy boat fell apart in seconds. Peach freely swam coming closer to being pulled when she grasped on to a paddle. It lifted her up and over to a sight worse than the storm.

"I found the princess!" Lemmy and a few others scrabbled to get the drenched and shivering princess and onboard. Iggy's flashlight was the only light in the night storm. In her extreme fatigue she couldn't make out any faces and fell unconscious.

"Row row row," koopas repeated, a drilled in habit if they didn't want fire breath, even doing so when their king wasn't actually conscious to force them to do anything. Bowser was just as motionless as Princess Peach as the legendary Water Land canoe rocked with the waves.

Lemmy clambered to the edge of the bow. He caught one glimpse of land before getting pummeled by a wave with the force of K64 running late. He fell back into the puddle in the middle of the boat, continually growing in size as they took on more water. Now facing upwards into the sky, Lemmy spotted with each flash of lightning a swirling vortex in the rain clouds. "O-over there!"

Kamek nodded, clinging to the edge for support with hood far down over his head, and the ship veered in a south direction. Suddenly Wendy O. the self proclaimed queen of the ocean tossed a sparkling gold ring in the water from the edge. For a moment the storm began to calm down, the waves moving more gently.

"To told you all I had this under control," she boasted.

Everyone held their breaths wanting to believe her. Now only a steady but comparatively soothing rain pattered the boat. Larry grumbled, seething that anything dare go right after all of his hard work. Toadsworth was next to him in the same position, fear striking his heart as he was forced to watch Peach's escape go in vain. Uncalled for but typical, Kammy leaned over the edge and said something very odd about that time Bowser's shower got clogged. Lemmy got to the look out position again with a grave pale face.

"Whirlpooooooooool!"

All one hundred of the Koopa Troop braced themselves as the strong outer currant knocked the ship to its side, ejecting many into the water. The boat spun around until in the center of the eye it snapped in half. All remaining were dragged down by the tidal currents, unable to fight against it or for Larry and Toadsworth's case, at all. Lemmy was a strong swimmer which he actually hated right then because he got to see himself be the last one in the water before he couldn't swim it any longer. Too busy fighting for survival to feel any emotions at that point, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before the whirlpool took him.

"REWARD BESTOWED," boomed a satisfied voice from above.

...

**To be continued..**

**Author note: No relation to Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever Epilogue 1: The missing piece**

**Created: 7/22, 7/23, 7/25, 7/26, 7/27, 7/28, 7/29, 7/31, 8/1, 8/11, 8/12, 8/13, 8/14, 8/25, 8/31, 9/2, 9/15, 9/18, 9/23, 10/2, 10/6, 10/7, 10/13**


	16. A Modest Proposal

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**A ****Modest Proposal**** (Chapter 16)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

**Author note: *Newly edited!***

* * *

Yellow orbs hovered in the sky. Luigi rubbed his eyes- they were street lamps strolling by rather. Drained by his new as of thirty minutes ago 'mission', he felt awful all over, so much so that the roomy luxurious interior of the station wagon and the careful effort by the driver to not hit a single bump on the road went unnoticed. He certainly wasn't going to take a nap either even with how late it was. He started to sweat though it chilly as they got closer to their destination. He'd have to make a move. He'd ran it over in his head dozens of times:

_'Captain, thanks for the ride but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave because a known enemy of ours had an epiphany about you and my brother believes the Koopaling for some reason..'_

Too honest.

_'Captain, could you run to Peach's Castle and get an item for us?'_ Then he could call Toadette and have her stall The Captain out all night. Indeed, Toadette would totally help Luigi deceive someone she likely looks up to and respects. Oh wait.

Luigi peeled the right half of his face from off the window, leaving a stinging mark. "Oww! Hey, don't miss the driveway in the dark, Captain. Our porch light got blown out by a Bowser goon two weeks ago."

"Of course." The toad pulled onto the curb in front of the Mario Bros home. Luigi also had to check on the warp pipe to World 3 for a potential short cut- the one part of his mission he didn't have to dread.

"-You're welcome to come in," Luigi yelled back over his shoulder, noticing he alone on the porch. He heard the car cut off as he went inside. He nearly tripped over a weight set left by Mario in the dark, stumbled over a table that still had old pizza boxes on it, bumped the dresser full of videogames, and then found the light switch. This place was a mess! But it was also home, and that brought the plumber back to Earth. If ditching Captain Toad was the right thing to do an opportunity would open up, he reasoned. Simple. If the Princess, and he hoped her still safe, were there she'd insist that the 'stars always guided you', a externalizing process he neither agreed or disagreed with. The floorboards squeaked as the toad stepped in, respectfully not allowing himself to scan around and see the magnitude of the man cave.

"Thank you for allowing me to escape the cold, Mr. Luigi," The Captain shortly after spoke, the overly bright sparkle absent from his tone. He dabbed under his runny nose with a red handkerchief. "Thanks for a lot actually. You've been well to me, is all."

Luigi had gone to the connected kitchen to get a soda out of refrigerator. He retrieved it and they shared a glance. "..No problem, Stan."

There was a rattly bang accompanied by a howl of wind. Luigi hated being jump scared by that. He or his brother must have left the back screen door unlatched, easily missed in the day, but noisy at night when the wind crept up.

In the backyard were the warp pipes as usual planted in well cut grass, one area on the property well cared for. Luigi tugged on a lever for the World 3 pipe but it wouldn't budge until another pair of hands grabbed on. With their combined effort the lever swung to the left, opening the screechy valve. Right after there was an intense rumble in the ground. On reflex Luigi closed the latch over the opening and weighted it down with his body. That was just enough to keep the water from erupting so it instead spilled out into the yard from the open rivet holes.

"Switch with me, Mr. Luigi!"

The plumber sprung off just as the toad dove on top of the hatch, swapping places with him.

"I'll be back! But it might be a minute to find the right sized-"

"No.. problem.. anything for a.. friend!" The Captain reassured in a strained way.

Luigi sprinted back inside the house and to their basement half dazed. He needed the plunger first, a snorkel, a water proof flashlight, then there was the matter of locating the correct wrench to- He froze at the supply closet when a obvious yet pungent thought sprung up.

He could just leave. The Captain was occupied. Or...

Luigi went back upstairs to the bedroom and snagged the keys to the Mach Bike. Outside in the front yard he could hear the burble from the back, also there was The Captain's car parked near the mail box. It almost made him turn around, but he continued on and walked the obnoxiously loud bike from their front yard down the house on the end of the block before cranking it up on the street. Luigi's return trip felt light years faster and the streets were empty all the way to the South Toad Town boarder. He crossed through the gates into Southern Mushroom Kingdom then he putted around the sunflower field Mario told him he'd be waiting.

"LUIGI! CUT IT OFF!"

Luigi stalled the engine, whipping around to find his brother running up frantically in the moonlight. By the looks he must have had Mario running after him for minutes.

"This was supposed to be secret!" Mario said in between breaths.

Luigi shrugged. "The shortcut was a bad. We can't take it. Captain Toad is home holding down the hatch in fact."

Mario also shrugged off his annoyance. "Perfect! We'll clean up the mess later." He revealed a box under his arm. "Better get to walking though Desert Land. The bike will help, but well have to leave it when the sand gets too thick. I also took the Princess's jewel before anyone had a chance to stop me so we're clear."

Luigi stared at him incredulously. "But our backyard is flooding! Shouldn't we both return home?"

"It's gonna be a mess, but-"

"Do you? You really believe Ludwig von Koopa and his pencil sketch plans he handed out on toilet paper?"

"I suggested he use the toilet paper actually. Better for the environment. For the record I'm not following the koopa's orders. I just happen to agree with him," Mario replied with a hint of offense, dropped just as quickly. No one could rebound from a sour mood like him. "Regardless of the mouth you hear it from, the facts are that our window of opportunity is this thin!" The plumber demonstrated with hardly visible gab between his thumb and index finger.

Luigi could help but to roll his eyes. No, it wasn't that this ordeal wasn't serious to him, rather it was how serious his brother was taking Ludwig specifically. The way the koopaling behaved, the widening of those blue eyes, the sometimes giddy cadence, it reminded Luigi the book "_How crazy people pretend to not be crazy when a cosmic entity is threatening everyone you love: Oddly specific edition vol.3_". Toadette gave the heads up that it was added to the castle library by Peach, right after she'd had that long overdue sleepover with Daisy. Offended on Daisy's behalf, Luigi thumbed through it. Unexpectedly good stuff.

"-I mean, don't you feel that plumber intuition going off?" Mario asked.

The younger brother sighed heavily. He did know that feeling. It was called, 'so much for not double crossing a 'friend'.

...

A lush patch of wild flowers, vibrant decoration for the storage home never stood a chance. They were flattened and by mistake no less. Ludwig became distracted while pacing by the feeling that he was being _talked_ about. It was like a sixth sense that anyone that had survived Koopa Kollege would know well and require to avoid random food poisoning sprees, booby traps, ambushes and the like from other candidates of the doctorate you desired. Cicada like insects screeched from hidden places suggesting they had him surrounded like an invading army, a grim parallel for koopaling on house arrest. One step out of his designated zone and a herd Mecha-Yoshis would vaporize him as far as he was told. And that was cool- the technological aspect at least.

A toad jumped over the nearest picket fence and shuddered. "The message said Larry Koopa, but I knew that wasn't right because I keep him as a friend just for his hot tracks. So then I thought maybe is was like a secret admirer under a pseudonym."

Ludwig spun around. "Correct. I admire, secretly not so much, but admire how you can you to go to the abandoned science barn and hand me the manila envelope on the table since I am immobilized and I need to see it's contents."

Toad frowned up. "Homeboy, really? Why are you using your brother's Facebook?"

"We all use his occasionally since he's the only of us not flagged and deactivated," Ludwig answered truthfully. Larry never displayed anything related to the 'extremist' Koopa Troop on his page. Ludwig would have had a standing account as he carefully worded his posts and stuck to private groups, but then trolls got the best of the blue haired genius and he got himself suspected of being the reason a rival music hall got blown up..

"But I'm Peach's secretary and if anyone finds out that-" He threw his hands in the air, giving up much quicker than expected. "Never mind. Have it." Soon he returned with the folder waving the thick bundle he'd rolled up in the air. "Hey, what up. Catch." He tossed the bundle over.

Ludwig flung the folder part away, wanting Dr. Toad's rough summary of Dr. Mario's notes, a long paper that unfolded down to his house arrest band, over his feet, over Toad's head, down the road, etc.. He scanned down to the bottom and hummed. "You remember the first Mushroom Flu outbreak, don't you?

"...Yeah I guess."

"The King was still ruling then, correct?"

"You're not gonna drag me into that. Try Toadsworth," Toad said with finality.

Ludwig nodded. "Back on topic antitoxin makes mushrooms unfit for consumption. Note however that antitoxin is not apart of the original composition of Mushroom Flue as seen here. It is caused by a synthetic poison!" He tore a piece of paper for himself with a shrill ripping sound. "Pen please. Thank you." He wrote something down and pocketed it. "Eldstar, I think I got it!...My tongue slipped. I meant Eldar A. Koopa, Dark Land philosopher and great uncle of mine. He reasoned, very unpopular at the time period, that all species held moral equivalency even despite physical dissimilarity. So, you've help me out. Thank you."

Toad was already backpedaling like the koopaling. "Nooo problem..."

"Boo!" Ludwig went to scare him away. It worked and the toad shrieked, but there were two voices.

"Ahh, sorry sorry!" Boo shamefully appeared in a more solid form, opposite of where Toad came from. "I heard you say something about stars earlier and.."

"The stars and I are complicated," Ludwig stated to cut to the chase.

"That's just it. I know. I used to wish to Eldstar every night to not be a loser anymore. Then I got my wish- only I keep hurting people with it- The wrong people or if its the right people, it's in a wrong way!"

"If Eldstar is only pure goodness, no gift from Eldstar can be defective! If others disagree, let them respectfully. Or not! It is you that can shoot lasers I have heard, so eliminate them. Plus, it's cool to be the anti-hero."

Boo continued to hover nervously. "A-actually It's l-lighting.. and I killed one of your spies with it."

Ludwig's expression flattened. "I shudder to sound like Wendy but that is 'fake news'. They aren't ours. Dark Land residents imagined one day it would be fun, I suppose if that's what you are into, to pretend to be a Koopa Troop spy and orchestrate chaos. What was the point of this interaction Boo? Surely you could live without advice from I?"

Boo remained silent for a moment. "I didn't have anyone else."

Now Ludwig smiled, seated and leaning against a rickety built storage home with one leg crossing the other. "I am aware of that feeling."

...A mile down at the Southern Hospital, major cleanup occurred all over. At Jr. Troopa's generous estimate, one would never know by sunrise all of shenanigans that occurred, not even that defenestration thing. Kylie Koopa lifted her legs briefly so someone could vacuum under them but that wasn't enough. Eventually her, Daisy, Agent N, Jelectro, and Mitch were asked to leave, and in the middle of an argument-

"No we will not launch missiles, not even to scare this supposed threat in Sarasaland," Agent N said as he stepped out of the hospital and into the western streets behind everyone in an intimidating manner.

Daisy crossed her arms. "That's not what we agreed on anyway! Deal's over, dawg!"

Mitch watched her storm off. "Thanks Kylie," he grumbled.

"Me?"

'Babe, you brought up the Chinese restaurant thing."

"It was supposed to be relatable!..." The koopa reporter scanned around and saw only the crusty spy captain and her grumpy paraplegic ex among the tumbleweeds in the streets. Where was the short noki?

Agent N shed his drill sergeant like disposition. When not seething, Kylie noted the orange dinosaur perpetually looked like a late office party goer. "Jelectro must of gotten into one of those _moods_. I bet he's in our car. Don't mess with him."

...

"Laisse-moi tranquille!" Jelectro's door was yanked open so he slowly slipped out the passenger seat. He'd hidden in the car far off the main country roads. "I'll explain if you gently.. Ha got it, mon ami!" The sunglasses wearing noki snatched the crowbar from where it seemed to be discreetly stashed with toad in the wheel chair.

"That wasn't to hurt you, dude. I had to use that earlier with Kylie to bend my wheels back into shape incase you can't look at me and tell I've been through some crap today. And you wouldn't have to guess if you used your powers."

Jelectro dropped the 'weapon' to the ground, slumping back into the silver sports car. "That is why I left. It's selfish, but I can't help it. It brings back so much- Remember 'Hot Foot' and his wife 'Pokey' causing those 'telepathy induced suicides' at a wood foundry as the papers reported?"

"Yeah I remember it. What?"

"-The perpetrators were my parents."

"..Oh."

Jelectro flattened the wrinkles out his shirt, fidgety mindless action as he spoke in a shaky tone. "Je suis juste fatigué. I don't want to know the thoughts of others in general. Say there is one I would like to pry into. Oh- now I can find out what my gifts will be early! But then there are so many more I'd rather not delve into. No I will not repeat the vile things I have found. You know this yourself, a journalist. What is more, anytime I use my powers bad things occur. It started small, I scanned a crowd on Sirena Beach after I received that call from Agent N. That's how I am in this mess three days later. Then the situation with you, with Dr. Professor Koopa, with Zoo Diddley, with the Poshley Heights prison.. "

Mitch rolled his wheelchair back for breathing room, as his irritation fizzled out. "Dude, you are right. Things are ugly, these ain't the 8-bit days no more, and we can't change that. We can't change the way our brains are wired either. We can change perspective though.. You can't be afraid of or hold a grudge against yourself because your folks chose to use their powers for evil.. Listen it's never too late to try to heal. That's all. Think about it, dude."

Jelectro watched not much of anything out the window for the next moment since his sunglasses were so dark. As a detective and spy for years he wished for the first time he wasn't so heroically neutral and paid more attention to popular heroes and villains. Both Mario and Bowser could and were known for using fire, but fire wasn't universally evil. Telepathy or any other super power was the same, usable constructively if you made it.

The noki decided he'd drive back to the others. After pressing the push button ignition, a loud bang came from the very rear of the car. Like expensive cars were known for, the dash, the interior lights, and everything else went out over a small fault that would require an expensive service center to fix. He still hated the family car switch back in 2017.. Worse yet, a toad hillbilly was waving a pitchfork at him, a potato apparently shattered the window of a shack and his car was the launcher.

...

A large jagged lump of sand marred the smooth shore where the waves of Water Land rolled onto the yellow sands of Desert Land. The tail end of the mound wiggled, revealing long clawed toes. The opposite end wiggled until something resembling a head lifted up. A wave washed away mud to reveal a huge confused koopa. On his knees Bowser coughed violently as he water kept rising up to his chin. He stood and took a few wobbly steps forward, reaching dryer grittier sand and where grass and trees grew. He smacked into a tree which pelted him with coconuts. Fleeing the trees Bowser entered a natural cave carved in the mountains that cut off the beach from the rest of the land. In pure blackness his foot splashed in a stream of water, then he heard screeching from blood sucking snoopers around the corner. He blindly rushed through, banging against the stalactites until he emerged from the mountains to the dunes of Desert Land.

Bowser collapsed flat on the ground.

"I HATE MARIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

...OOO, and on his voice echoed.

"Boss!" Sentry 11 materialized near him. "We were scouting for you, difficult 'cause the good mooks quit and no one listens to me.. actually about everyone quit if they managed to wash up. Want a report?" he ventured bluntly.

Bowser glared at the sentry so bleakly the lakitu gulped. Regardless Sentry 11 tallied it up as if he couldn't help it.

"Well it's about twenty Koopa Troop boss, including your family."

Faint and wispy steam rose from Bowser's forehead. If the stars were actually trying to prevent his union with the princess, they'd have to try harder. A strip of sandstone formed a path that traveled between two obelisks with hieroglyph inscriptions. Flaming torches lit the perimeter of a large golden pyramid with an open passageway. It was from there that Bowser's children emerged from to surround him, drenched wet and chattering.

Bowser Junior clung around Bowser's neck. "Daddddy!" the six year old sobbed.

"I calculated King Dad would wash up around this shore, so now we're just missing unnamed koopa numbers 45 through 500," Iggy spoke up clinically before something genuinely distressing came upon him. "..Has anyone seen Kamek and Kammy!?"

Bowser scrambled to his feet, resulting in his youngest son swinging around. "THEY'RE MISSING? WHAT?! WHY ARE WE JUST STANDING AROUND THEN?"

Lemmy rose his hand. "Because we had to guard the princess?"

In the pyramid Bowser found no pure gold walls or chests from ancient Kings, instead cheap hanging rafters, industrial lights, fresh sharply chiseled stone, buckets of paint in the corner, and a passageway blocked with a white fabric sheet spray painted 'out of order'. The floor plan was completely open with only tape marking where walls would go. Peach and Toadsworth huddled in a corner, trying to have the maximum distance possible from Bowser who stomped towards them halfway.

"You stay right here until I find gramps and old hag. Okay? Stay right here!"

After no response he got a little closer and then Peach sprung forth like a viper. "You don't even have an army anymore Bowser so I dare you, yes I dare you to make me do anything!" She slapped Bowser across his face like she had nothing to lose. Unfortunately, she was quickly reminded she did. Her hand bounced off with a thud.

Once the shock was out of his system, Bowser bent to her level, baring his teeth and grabbing her dainty little wrist. "So, you think you can take me now? Don't play stupid games reserved for Mario, Hotness." He let her go in an unbothered way, at least outwardly. "Hmm, yeah we better make wedding plans.. again.. again... again... Excited?" He wished he was when he shot the trembling mess of a princess a grin over his shoulder. Oddly Bowser felt like a caricature of himself at this point, but too late. If he just kept trying to brute force his will it would HAVE to happen at some point. Said so right in Kingly Law, the Darklandian equivalent, sorta, of the Mushroom Kingdom's infamous star worship.

"-Listen pops, that's it!" Larry ambushed him outside the pyramid, where it was cold despite being desert. "I stuck around with that canoe at Water Land to save your tails and what I get? For y'all to just ignore me again, even when we almost died for real this time. I didn't want to do this dad, 'cause it feels like something a nerd would do, but I veto you!"

Bowser's eyebrows raised and lowered. "That is baloney!"

Wendy flushed. "He _can_ do that, not that I'd ever daddy, but he can veto especially since we're considered, like, travelers and don't rule a kingdom anymore!"

Lemmy rose his hand quickly. "King Dad, can we have an emergency meeting?" he requested to avoid conflict.

Bowser again had a flash of some sort of shock. "Uh, sure. Everyone listen to him then!" he ordered.

The last two days? What waste of opportunity Lemmy thought. Someone who still asked for permission to potty was promoted to Dark Land military commander but he did nothing really with that new power, not even throw a surprise dance party because he could. When Ludwig returned from his trip, assuming the family was still spared by the Dark Star, it'd be back to normalcy without footnote even of Lemmy as leader. That brought him to the next point, no one could now refute was something out there targeting Bowser. Kingly Law encouraged endurance, not being blind to facts. The stress kept piling as he was likely the only one that could do something to end this. Was it punishment for of some sort? '_Like pretending to be_ _a_ _KT general when you'd rather be on that stage? Now you get to be one for real, hehehe'_.'

Well, Lemmy replied to that dumb voice in his head, who said he couldn't be a general AND put on a show? He had a _modest proposal_, and not the one a literary major like Morton might think about at the suggestion.

Actually maybe it was a little like the satirical kind..

"King Dad and everyone else," Lemmy announced from on top of the stairway to the pyramid, "our dedication to the central purpose of the Koopa Troop, that is disrupting the Mushroom Kingdom, is cool and honorable and stuff. We've persisted through a boatload of crap but we're still here and we still have Peach. We rule! Too bad we lost everything, but not for long." The twenty-two year old was loving how he had his family and the ten mooks including but not limited to Sentry 11, Tanner, Whomp #5, Johnson, Emery, and paying attention. "Sooo I request we find Kamek and Kammy and then I'll tell you my secret idea that will solve all our problems!"

"I like it." Bowser nodded, attracted to the idea of instant success.

Wendy kept in the back on purpose, feeling he was looking hideous with her nose running like a faucet. "It'll be like when I studied the Old Koopa Dynasty. Princess Jessica Koopa iii married, instead of who she was supposed to, Prince Fredrik Fuzzy and basically screwed up both of their kingdoms for a moment yet avoided World War 64," she explained in a nasally voice from the sinus infection starting. "No one was ever the same for generations, but for the better!"

"No! No No!" Larry snapped. "If Peach and dad getting married we'll all have to fall in line and my life is just- over! I'll be some crusty guy in a castle in whatever kingdom gets handed to me, if that, who can only get chicks by kidnapping them! I want to travel the world playing music and seeing neat stuff- even in enemy territory!"

Roy grabbed the fifteen year old into a choke hold. "Shuddup. Finding the old geezers sounds good. We all vote for dat!" He spoke for the rest.

So the search was on again with Bowser's intimidating presence behind it. He'd stay outside the pyramid and receive reports, so they'd better be good ones!

Meanwhile…The smell of stale wet paint mixed with the sour odor of despair. Peach felt so many emotions at once, he was hardly physically there. Why did it have to be so brutal between her and Bowser? It was her father firing the first shots years ago but it seemed the perception to all was that she was always ruling the Mushroom Kingdom, even among those who should know better.

"-What would the King say, dear?"

Peach blinked again as Toadsworth came into focus in front of a snack machine installed in the unfinished building.

"Your father, the King," the old mushroom continued, inserting into the machine the single golden coin that had survived his pockets. It spat out, expired gum instead of the water he wished for. He sighed. "If he knew these monsters were so integrated here, leading to situations like this!"

"Stop." Peach replied more prickly than she meant. Her brain caught up and determined it useless to debate certain things with her well meaning but sometimes narrow minded elder...

…

Victor Patooie, secretary of the Southern Hospital was in his office space, a large barn that belonged to him and housed all his equipment and technological inventions from the Mecha-Yoshis to the 'ten-gallon hat disguiser' idea that he abandoned once he got too anxious of legal action by Bonneters. Plus, test runs made someone bald, so scrapping it was for the better. Someone was knocking over the Walker Texas Koopa reruns he had playing. The patooie slid open his metal door. "What in tarnation-?" Jelectro had him pinned against his own rusty steel walls in a split second.

"Why did you stick a potato in the tailpipe of a my car!?"

"Hold on, partner! Junior, Troopa I mean, fibbed and said that fancy car belonged to him. Easy there! I wanted to teach 'em a lesson cause he gifted me my cellular phone that's always 'sploding! I can fix it!"

Moments later, five tall armored robot dinosaurs were attached to the Aston Mushroom by thick ropes. Vick told hem to go 'over yonder' and back as a test. The obedient machines made the newly created wagon plow through ahead and into a barn. The wooden building collapsed, burying and totaling the Aston Mushroom while the mecha-yoshis kept going. Vick quickly called for the rest of the Mecha-Yoshi fleet to roll out and track down their rampaging brethren, hitching a ride on the back of one as well.

After staring blankly for a minute, Jelectro could do nothing else but drag his feet back to where he'd came and make up a story because no one would believe this happened. During his walk of shame he crossed the curious eye of a koopaling. The noki heard a voice and ignored it until he couldn't. "What, mon ami?"

"You dropped this," Ludwig handed it the thick Italian lathered wallet back. It was then that the Koopaling prince noticed he'd followed the detective outside his house arrest zone. Here came the Mecha-Yoshi to get him he feared!

Then the janitor Probabilly in the middle of a late shift cut off the lamp outside the shed to save electricity. "You're off the hook, kid. Vick's death machines are busy or broke again. Take care," the old koopa told him.

It took all Ludwig had to not exclaim "Righteous!" in complete 90s fashion. By this point Jelectro had taken back the wallet and knew by that lump in his throat something bad was starting up. He thought it best to just run to his friends a quick as possible.

"Thank you for showing me the way!" Ludwig said in pursuit.

Nope, that wasn't what the noki meant to do at all!

...

Bowser attempted to remain put while the search went on, but by the fourth report that there were no traces of the magikoopas, he was about ready to gun to the shore himself.

"Alright, that's it!" Bowser announced in a hammy fashion. "To get it done, you gotta do it yourself!"

He would take a different approach searching deeper in Desert Land instead of around and over the mountain range. The landscape transitioned with the smoothness of a pokey's back, decidedly urban and developed. There were gourd plants with the pickets supporting them and empty patches of dirt expansion, then he found a wheeled trailer from a construction company, 'Authentic Restorations and Replicas inc.' There was a newly built sphinx, the entrance of the upcoming ancient civilization replica park as the flashing billboard stated.

Bowser hummed, ripping a promotional poster off a wall and rolling it up to look at later. He knew a thing or two about replicas, having countless versions of his castle recreated for Mario Karts and other events.. like tennis. Ugh! Thinking of MARIO made his mood crumble to the ground quicker than his castles normally did. His teeth grit together..

When he returned he found Peach outside the pyramid doorway. The Koopa King froze. "Hotness? What's wrong? Aside from the obvious..."

"Remember the first Mushroom Flu many years ago?"

"What about it?" Bowser replied, masking the queasy feeling. Even his current predicament, his life falling apart in the span of a few days was somehow easier to wrap his head around than those dark dark times.

She descended several steps closer. "It was really about my father's kingdom verses yours, not my kingdom and yours."

"What's the deal?"

Peach had a tear running down but the cold exterior was still on display. "I'll be brief then. You take responsibility for poisoning those belonging to me- so it's only fair that I take responsibility for- "

"Princess!" Toadsworth surprised both by appearing outside. Apparently he'd escaped via the 'emergency exit' just in time to see party arriving from the mountains.

Bowser bent to Peach's level. "We'll talk this out later. Okay? Go back inside, you and your grandpa."

He shoved both of them out of view as the group met up with him.

"I hate this new alarm clock! It makes me feel like my feet are moving!" Kamek protested as he was walked along with Roy and Morton on each side of him.

Kammy, though being supported by Wendy was still able to whack him with her new cane, a stiff palm branch since the original was lost at sea. "It's not an alarm clock! We're being walked!"

"I'm stoked you guys were found safe," spoke Lemmy in the lead.

Bowser grinned proudly. "Gramps and old hag! Got tired of being seafood finally I see. Well Johnson, get them warmed by the fire. Tanner, see if there's an outhouse around here. Emery? Get me a Lichen Cola. The rest of ya gather around so Lemmy can tell us whatever great idea he CLAIMS to have."

Lemmy smiled back. It was_ show time_ as he'd say on the circus stage. First he'd need his SPOTLIGHT so his trick could be seen from all angles. A light was found and someone got Whomp #5 to aim it between two obelisks, the 'stage'. Lemmy's ball survived the shipwreck and he rolled with it perfectly in the middle of the towers.

Five seconds in Bowser was tapping his foot. He received the Lichen Cola and popped it open, already tuning out.

Lemmy cleared his throat. "What does a kingdom need?.. That's rhetorical, Morton. It needs land which we don't have and subjects which we've lost. Marrying Peach would make her kingdom King Dad's, her assets his, her subjects his, her castle his. Plus you, King Dad, like her obviously. If that happens however, there won't be a credits screen and it's all over. We'd never have peace. Ever. There's the Mushroom Kingdom's allies and Mario. Oh no! But what if you could replace Peach's role in this with someone else? Someone that would pretty much just make everyone give up? You'd get the kingdom and maybe more! And you still like this person too? I'd say just as much as Peach in a way," he chuckled darkly.

Uninterested, Bowser too one last gulp of the canned soda.

"So my proposal is this: Replace Peach with…. Mario! Mario can't crash your wedding if it's with Mario. Right? The world would just implode and then anything is yours. We win!" Lemmy bowed. "Annnnd that's it. APPLAUSE!"

The audience did so without registering what they had just heard or were celebrating. Bowser however spat a tremendous stream of soda as the can slipped from his hand and his knees gave way. He screamed.

* * *

**To be continued..**

**Created: 8/1/19, 8/4, 8/8 - 8/15, 8/18, 8/19, 8/20, 8/21, 8/22, 8/23, 8/25, 8/26, 8/31, 9/2, 9/14, 9/15, 9/16, 9/18, 9/23, 10/7, 10/8, 10/9, 10/10, 13, 15, 10/21, 10/22, 10/27, 10/28, 10/30, 10/31**

**Edited: 6/13, 6/14/20**


	17. The New Mario and Bowser

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**The New Mario and Bowser (Chapter 17)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

**Author note: *UPDATE* Edited again, because I missed a bunch of errors.**

* * *

_Mario was in the black heart of the eighth known mushroom world, tackling the last gauntlet between him and the princess in the clutches of the wicked 'Bowser Koopa'. Whipped thoroughly into shape by perils endured and challenges never imagined, he was the first person brave- or stupid enough to cross the drawbridge over lava. It rocked and creaked with every step but Bowser was at the other end and there was no turning back. A fireball rolled down the narrow path. Mario jumped over it just as hammers of dull steel rained down and pelted the fragile walkway. Bowser launched himself into the air before Mario could slam the axe he acquired into The Enemy's forehead. Mario slid out of the way instead and when Bowser landed the bridge buckled in the middle and Mario stumbled backwards. The Enemy…could not win now! This gave Mario a new less violent but more interesting idea. Just a moment later, when he struck the bridge with the axe and the whole thing went down, the look on Bowser's face was priceless-_

"Mario, why are you smiling so much?"

Both brothers stopped at the apex of a five story tall sand dune, others ahead resembling pale blue glaciers in the moonlight. It was very quiet. They had spotted what were ostensibly other travelers a considerable distance away but never close enough to see a face or discern a species. There were no signs or land marks. The only thing certain were fresh foot prints down hill- Their own, wrapping around to complete the circle they'd went in.

"How about we stop following this broken compass," Mario chuckled dryly, shoving the navigational 'aid' into his pocket.

Luigi resisted bringing up the irony that they packed sandwiches cut meticulously into triangles and even a Gameboy equipped with the camera accessory but not a reliable map. "10/10 Adventure. Would be player two again."

Mario sat down. "Then let's hit the reset button, alright?" He popped a finger sandwich in his mouth and used all he could out of his cellphone's single signal bar. He wished Luigi's didn't melt because from lack of use it had a stronger battery. Playing a 'Generation Z' mp3 he was not ashamed to be a fan of, he looked up the nearest village in Desert Land. Faintly he could see some light on the edge of the horizon.

Mario sprang back up, brushing the crumbs from his mustache. "Luigi, if I run us in another circle I'll allow you to punch me."

Luigi smiled back. "I'm holding you to that."

...

Ludwig slipped behind a parked western style wagon and listened carefully to the murmurs of the group lingering in the front lot of the Southern hospital. The crows were talking and Mario and Luigi were missing he was informed. The side and back of the hospital was shrouded in darkness except for a crack of light from a back door propped open with a broom handle. A notebook paper taped on the wall said: 'Cleanin' in progress. Come back soon, hear?'. Rhythmic clacking of stacked plates came from inside so he avoided the kitchen sneaking down a hall lined with photos of who he presumed to be staff, spotting Jr. Troopa on a few holding Cheep Cheep hunting trophies. The front lobby was empty and abandoned, belongings and papers strolled around on the floor and tables, including a radio rigged into the wall.

He silently zoomed in on the satellite receiver on a kingdom to kingdom protocol he was wholly familiar with. With a nervous excitement he went to '-.-. ... .- .. -.- .. -. -. -.. - -' in Morse code.

"Thank you for calling Daisy's Castle," a female answered.

Ludwig hunched down farther, now only his blue hair would be visible over the table. "Inform whoever it may concern that it is Prince Ludwig Von Koopa."

The line cut, loud static stabbing the koopaling's eardrums. Ludwig winced while he waited.

"CHOP CHOP. THESE ARE BUSY TIMES OLD CHAP."

"I will be brief. Your power is scant and impotent compared to Eldstar and you should give up!" Ludwig declared.

"WHO DARE SPEAKS SUCH RUBBISH?"

Slowly Ludwig rose, making a defensive visual of the receiver. "Ludwig Von Koopa. I see your receptionist is quite lousy at her job because I shared my credentials, but forget it. You have a secret ally do you not? Or is it the other way around, after all I did not have a hand in creating you but rather your cohort last Friday who hunts down my kind!"

"….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA….."

"...Are we still in contact?"

"OH, YES. YOU ARE MISTAKEN. YOU ARE FEATHERBRAINED. WE HAVE AS MUCH IN COMMON AS LIGHT AND DARK. HOW COULD YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU HAD SOME PART IN THE CREATION OF ONE OF US?"

"Because it happened! I not only did you deem impossible but I have witnesses. Zoo Diddley revived the other dark star from the Doom Reverb before he perished!"

"BY JOVE! MORTALS PERCEIVE AND UNDERSTAND SO LITTLE DURING THEIR SMALL SPAN OF EXISTENCE, AND NOW ONE THINKS THEY KNOW MORE THAN ME? HA! SHE PURSUITS YOUR PEOPLE AND SHE RESIDES IN THE SKIES, YES, BUT YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT."

"Tsk. Don't believe then, but once your friend is taken care of, and it will be soon, you will be next even if I have to blow the _crap_ out of the Chai Kingdom to do it!"

"HA! KEEP YOURSELF BUSY WITH THIS. BUGGER WITH ME MORE AND YOU'LL GET A BIGGER HEAT SEEKING PRIZE!"

Ludwig caught a whiff of smoke and rose to his feet, away from the violently sparking radio. "Oh how lovely..."

The smoke alarm rung as Ludwig returned down the hall. A green shelled noki in an apron was already at the back door ready to evacuate, but seeing the red faced koopaling he pulled up a walkie-talkie instead.

"Junior, this is Laki.. What do you mean 'who'?! I took that other guy's shift- Oh never mind! There was a koopaling in the hospital. I repeat a koopalinnnng!" Something pulled him out of sight outdoors.

Ludwig stepped outside to find a detective shoving the unconscious nurse into an outhouse.

"You're welcome, mon ami," Jelectro kicked the rickety door closed. "Whether or not I meant to, I've already maneuvered enough so that you are not yet apprehended like you deserve, what's one more favor?"

Ludwig checked his watch as smoke continued to rise from the building. "And I give you my thanks, considering your graciousness allowed me to.. do a lot of interesting things just now! You are my greatest ally at the moment. For now at least (As I do tend to burn bridges).. Now chin up s'il vous plaît. It slipped from the other dark star that my family's harasser has a physical presence and apparently is a femme fatale. I'll stop appropriating your language if you hear my plan.."

...

"I DON'T LIKE HIM LIKE THAT!…. OR AT ALL! I HATE MARIO! COME BACK!" Bowser screamed at the backs of minions leaving him. They hiked out of the park and away forever, once loyal to Bowser before hearing Lemmy's proposal that pushed frenemy relations too far.

"This is not what I joined Bowser for two days ago," Emery told Tanner as they dragged their steps. "I hope I can start my medical career over again."

The koopatrol put and arm around the toad girl with a blush. This was the first time he'd had real physical contact with her (or any woman) ever. "Of course. Uh, you're smart, got a degree, hardworking-"

"-She and every other young one these days. Get on that resume then," muttered Johnson, the nondescript Koopa Troopa on their heels.

Back with Bowser, Lemmy shrugged in good nature. "King Dad, I guess that proposal wasn't popular."

Bowser took a deep breath. Focusing on his son, particularly the corners of his lips struggling to not curl upwards, it clicked. The budding performer might have had natural talent to act, but the King was still a parent of eight. Something was wrong and he could feel it. "Were you TRYING to disband us? You were!" he sharply accused. This made everyone gasp.

"The Koopa Troop terminated? A bigger catastrophe than the great drought of the Mario Party! The sequelitis of the NSMB! The curse of the motion controls!" Morton exclaimed.

"Or worse than.. Anyone remember when we kidnapped Mario and stole world artifacts and failed because we tried to abduct landmarks like the Empire state building and King Kong?" Iggy paused a second. "No one remembers?"

"We block that out for a reason!" Roy screamed in Iggy's ear. The oddball genius woozily stumbled into the spotlight which fell with a loud clang.

_That was unexpected! -The message Bowser received, especially in present times. A hammer brother passed to him a pink paper from Peach's Castle, more specifically from a messenger from a messenger from a messenger from whoever Peach got to write her letters, possibly her secretary Toad due to frequently bad grammar and spelling. (Rumors were arising that some of the greatest minds in all of the eight continental kingdoms were directing the building of mysterious metal structures and poles that would somehow eliminate the need to use letters all of the time. Bowser thought that too far out to believe.) Peach's distinctive and delicate tissue paper like stock was an invitation from Mario asking for him to participate in a demilitarized, except for the strong hint what weaponized shells and bananas would be involved, recreational kart race. For fun._

"...Sounds great!" Bowser stated, popping out of that day dream. Coming to, everyone had shifted positions and an unknown amount of time was blotted out of his memory.

"-I knew you'd agree to all I just said dearie. Even the thing about more grandkids. You can't give up after everything we've been through, your nastiness. We raised you better!" Kammy said, the short magikoopa materializing at his side. "Go on to the pyramid and spill your heart to Peach! It's not too late for her to say yes!"

Lemmy made a face, then his old habits bounced back hard and he needlessly but respectfully shot his hands upwards for permission to speak. "King Dad, please, I request for you to remember Kingly Law! We're family and a family alone can't make a Kingdom and without a kingdom you can't marry Peach for political alliance!"

"You and that stupid book! I wish I never made Kamek drill it in y'alls heads. Hit the dang reset button." Bowser faced Kammy for support.

"Reset button dearie?"

Bowser flushed. "It means start over, er, what loser did I borrow that phrase from? Oh whatever. I need a report!"

"Not counting your own you have one mook boss," replied Sentry 11 from his hiding spot at the high vantage point of the obelisk. He dropped his binoculars. "Me...I'm your last guy! I-I'm honored!" the lakitu beamed.

"Ha! So I still have a supporter who ain't blood and thus my Kingdom is still a Kingdom."

"But King Dad, you've gone beyond desperate, wacky, mad, silly!" Morton countered. "Give it up! We are still on the run from the menace, the creeping death, the Dark Star!"

"Ah," Kamek quipped suddenly. "That book my friend gave to you-"

"Shut up!" Bowser bellowed with a stomp, only for the malleable sand to nearly swallow his foot. He roared.

Larry joined Morton's side. "No dad! Peach don't even gel with us. Face it! We'll never get enough of her complaining about mold and dungeons and rock music and Roy's armpits and Iggy's monthly subscriptions and expensive posters! The Japanese ones!"

"Grrr. I use Axe body spray, alright? Comere so I can pound ya!" Roy abandoned beating up Iggy to rush ahead.

"The posters on my walls are my totally own fan art in anime style" Iggy defended seriously, hopping along. "There's a difference. -Unlike Junior who traces art from the internet and poses as a prodigy in kindergarten art class."

Bowser Junior childishly huffed. "I'm tellinnnnnnnng!"

"King Dad, i-if we keep going like this a disaster is going to happen AGAIN!" Lemmy wailed desperately as Bowser rushed off.

Again...

Again?

Bowser, already in pieces, discovered that it was possible for his very being to shatter into bits as fine as the sand of the desert. He whipped around to glare at everyone that had followed and cornered him against the pyramid entrance. Bowser wanted to bludgeon them with his booming voice, show them who was the boss and who was not to be questioned again. He might even breathe fire to drive the point home. The resilient koopas would be okay with the flame assault. They were always okay. They were okay... But what if they _weren't_ one day? What he he had lost them in the shipwreck? Bowser had no army, no kingdom, no servants to loose anymore, just his family. If the Dark Star wanted more blood what was left to take from him but them? No no no! All the bad things can't happen to one person! His balled fists relaxed and his ugly expression had melted into a blank stare. An alien feeling, his chest tightened, overwhelmed-

"Kamek? W-what?" Bowser snapped more defensively than he meant when his aged father figure was the only one to approach him up the steps.

"Lord Bowser, I only had a tip for you. It'll cheer you up." Kamek reached into his pocket. "Drop that deranged psycho look! Girls hate that." He tossed an 'as seen on TV' bottle of womanizing spray at Bowser.

Iggy nearly fainted. "Someone stole my prototype!"

Bowser stared at the round bottle, feeling those rational thoughts from just seconds ago dissolve like they were never there. The Princess, his prize was just. Right. There. Then go for it idiot, Bowser thought.

Wendy never witnessed such 'stank' spray being passed around because she was behind way in the back, usually a reason for her to scream something about misogyny but not this time. The strife in the family was more important and also nothing new, as discussed in depth with her used to be Adolescent Anti-Monarchy club. They'd gather in mom's basements or dorms or public parks, young and rebellious but intellectual Dark Land citizens known for peering into history books, diaries, and newspapers to study the pattern of successes and failures of societies ruled by leaders with absolute power. Had their little group of losers and outcasts, even Wendy in a way always depreciated as the only distaff Koopaling, been the first to uncover the corruption so deeply ingrained in their culture for centuries? As the future of the Mushroom World it was in their hands to change things- if they were willing to take the mantle.

Wendy wasn't then- taking those pearls of understanding and casting them away, at least to outsiders, after turning seventeen this year. She couldn't hang with gangs directly against her own legacy. It's not like she'd lead in a monarchy-free utopia. Now, though they were on the brink of the end of a monarchy, and it just needed one push. But it was her own! The guilt stung, yet her passion for her activism was stronger. She could see it as clear as it had already happened- a brighter future with no princess chasing.

"Daddy! Waaaaaaaaait!" Her soprano was covered up by the cacophony . She needed a platform. Who better than her younger brother besides her?

Morton hardly noticed Wendy climbing on his back. The teen was stuck on how much he'd learned from month ago, starting when he added to his collection a book called 'IV'. In exchange of three months pay from his part time job at his high-school's library, the sixteen year old was able to devour the diary of an ancient explorer Zheng Koopa, regurgitate it, then digest it again. The writing was on the wall, as unmistakable as a Neo Bowser City billboard- and those things could blind even monty moles.

"Everyone should listen to me! For real this time!" Morton charged forward, slinging Wendy along and knocking everyone aside to race inside the pyramid.

Back at the pyramid: "Where is she? Ahhhhhh! S-she's gone!" Bowser sputtered, now smelling irresistible from a female perspective. He belligerently shook Toadsworth, flinging the mushroom's glasses off. The pyramid was empty with only the retired chancellor waiting.

Morton and Wendy and everyone else started another fit of screaming but Bowser couldn't tear his eyes from Peach's escape method. The drink machine had been slid to the side to reveal an 'emergency' emergency exit, a hole torn into the wall..

With everything on her, including her crown and phone she'd slipped back from Bowser when he wasn't looking, Princess Peach took on a new Egyptian custom and was catching on like an expert- running like the Nile out of wicked Bowser's grasp. She overtook Whomp #5 without looking back.

"The princess!"

She then overtook the ex Koopa Troop members moving at normal speeds.

"Ohmygosh. It's the princess!" Emery turned to Tanner.

"That's what I just *huff* said!" the whomp confirmed in distance.

Peach panted heavily, unexpectedly icy desert wind colliding with her face. She thought she was forming a bunion from running in heels but she deserved it likely. The crushing avalanche of problems was her fault for pushing a serious problem away when younger, applying a bandage and calling it resolved. Now with that bandage ripped away it was clear the wound it covered never healed, doing permanent damage no one could undo as far as she could foresee.

She stopped under the stone arches of some ruins and called for help. Blast it! She cringed at the health of what was a cute little flip phone- Bowser had not been kind- and backed away from the structure for a stronger signal. Finally she got a call through to the Mushroom Kingdom's emergency number. She thanked the stars as it slipped from her grip. Falling on its back she saw in the moonlight 'Property of Bowser' stamped on. Anger flared up before the princess could rein it back. Crack! It was in pieces under her heel...

...

"Okay, so are we, like, mad at Mario or not? Just trying to keep up," Toad asked Yoshi primarily, with Daisy and Boo also present. All four were avoiding the crowd in the streets at the late hour, driven there due to the hospital fire. The last thing they wanted was to answer questions about Mario or delve into the bigger issues they didn't understand.

"He should not have left like that," Yoshi answered with some bitterness. He lead everyone to the back lot of the hospital for more privacy. He shouldn't have been surprised at Mario's actions. He even suspected something when he visited Mario in his recovery room earlier and during their chat, he was preparing sandwiches in his strange way. Still, something about it irritated Yoshi. Was it not being invited? He shook that off maturely, the plumber was obviously wanting him to keep everyone on track here. Yoshi would do just that and have everything in order when Mario returned with the princess.

Daisy exhaled, making a little cloud she stepped through when she brought the conversation up again. "You're right. I was trying to be calm but Mario gave Kylie Koopa permission to- Just screw it. Screw Mario!"

Boo's jaw dropped. "Luigi too?"

The tanned princess softened and brushed her brunette hair back. "No I didn't mean- Weegee can't help being joined at the hip like that. Mario's the problem! I heard he even.. tell them what you told me, Toad."

"Mario took the princess's jewel from his room, homeboy."

Yoshi bite back his frown. "I'm sure he knows what he's doing-"

The dinosaur froze when there was a cry of help from the outhouse. They swung open the door and found a noki, small but blue-collar, with a discolored knot on his forehead. He was propped on a seat, bound up in thick green garden hose.

"Heeello! Thank you! So this is what I get for choosing today of all days to cover someone's third-shift! Don't even get me started on.."

Yoshi and crew stared at him as he continued to complain.

"..Anyway a koopaling was in there before the fire. Suspicious right? He got away with another noki running around wearing sunglasses at night." He stopped talking finally to sigh.

Toad crept backwards. "Just… gotta iron my.. toad hat!" He tripped on the hose rack, picked himself up and scurried away. He ran out of the neighborhood of the hospital then stopped at a single illuminated phone booth. He went in and after a glance over his shoulder called someone.

"Hey, wondering if-… What's underwater?.. No, the Marios' are in Desert Land by now- Okay. Yeah drive your 'Brigade Van' or whatever here…Don't make this weird. Bye."

"I don't think you should have done that." Boo appeared in a spot, his unbeknownst tracker.

Toad hung up and, accepting whatever was going to happen, he calmly left the booth and kicked it's clear plastic door shut with the back of his shoe. "Boo, it's not what you think," he started. "I helped Ludwig but it doesn't mean this or that and I didn't let him loose either. He's not doing anything bad if you just listen to him. People are people."

"What were you doing?!"

Toad briefly paused at the forceful tone. "..Getting out of here before Yoshi grills me or Daisy puts me in a headlock... They sent you right?"

"Haha. Guess what, buddy... The _others _don't control me."

Toad's eyebrow rose as Booigi the Second crept closer. A buzz filled the air around them, but it wasn't from the boo diddly, rather something aerial. This 'thing' moved swiftly in the skies, it's presence a black wispy shape against a black sky, only the darkening of stars any indicator of it's movement. Articles of clothing flapped, a few loose tumbleweeds rolled away, and the door of the booth swung open.

…

General Siwang put out his pipe while General Tao, Roar, and Yura stood behind him, their shoulders side by side at vastly different heights creating a treacherous staircase. Perfectly still and eyes glassed over, a touch of saliva dripping on the corners of their mouths, especially from Roar, they allowed the parvenu general to reign free at complex controls capable of destroying a nation. Siwang hit a red blinking switch, sending a high speed blip on the radar screaming over the ocean before disappearing too far to hear the impact. He climbed out of the weapons bunker and into the open, leaving the native leaders in their suspended state for something more stimulating. If he was at his residing place far away he'd be enjoying his entertainment system, sitcoms tapped from Earth's antennas, keeping a close eye on his 'neighbors' on the other side, and his favorite, influencing multifarious colonies to maim and murder each other over pathetic mortal issues. But he was here, not in the Dark Realm.

Why? He'd carved out a spot in his life for someone to share such joys with, and she only had some business to take care of before she could be with him for eternity. The general played with his ornate lighter, taking in the morning Sarasaland heat and thinking about a dumb little thing repeatedly. He had to get it straighten out, so he would. The sun was rising behind the thick blanket of smoke in the sky. The 'smoke' congregated and swirled around above him to rumble threateningly. The group of explorers working on a sphinx a mile away hid in their tents while natives fled to huts as Siwang fearlessly turned upwards in the windstorm.

"Love, if I did not hear some rubbish a few minutes ago! Here is what this lowlife Koopaling said..."

Minutes passed and the storm kept raging as a far reaching story was carefully explained. Heated replies were given during which the bombshell koopa's fists balled tighter by the moment. Eventually-

"That's bollocks, utterly despicable! To think you rely on these creatures like that!"

"…!" the storm replied spitefully.

"Yes, me and the 'big guy' are cousins! How dare you use that against me. Ta ta. We're through. Over!"

Furious and face knotted up grotesquely, General Siwang's body particularized and broke down. The bombshell koopa was no more! The storm reached tornado strengths before dying abruptly, the clouds reversing their course. A dark influence over the territory of Daisy's Castle was lifted. A minute later General Roar, the only general sober enough to find his way out of the bunker, found a pile of official clothing in the sand. The lion like creature found no familiar scent. Having a splitting headache he stumbled along in loose recently stirred sand before he reached the lip of the excavation site behind Daisy's Castle. He tumbled down and it was a long fall. The workers in the pit would have assisted and more, what stories the nyololin, goombos, and pionpi and could share of the horrors of working for weeks straight brainwashed, but regardless they were rendered useless by exhaustion.

…

"We know you're around here Ludwig!" Yoshi stopped before the high barbed fence on the chase for the house arrest violating koopaling. The middle aged dino thought it funny how they were smack in the subdivision of the Mushroom Kingdom where zappers of all sorts were perfectly legal yet they were facing an elite Bowser minion with zero guns- Except Daisy's.

Snap! Daisy's karate kick destroyed iron latch on the gate. The duo were on the way to the green glowing science barn again when they noticed they had two guests.

"Thanks-" Kylie Koopa started.

Daisy stretched her arms across the entrance of the barn. "Don't think so, crazy people!"

"Ironic from you babe. We're chasing Ludwig and Jelectro and Boo and Toad but Toad was forced and he's kind of their prisoner before they do something secret involving the hydro power down here after Ludwig contacted Sarasaland after we did and there's no telling what he's complected further considering the dark star moved a few minutes ago and-"

"Oh, Mitch. Do you ever spoil the scoops!" Kylie elbowed him. "Leave something for the page five blurb, alright?"

Yoshi rolled his eyes and went with it. Inside the barn were left behind lab tables and three white boards with lots of scientific formulas on them but otherwise there were just stacks of hay and farm tools, the green glow actually coming from outdoors.

"Silence! I must time this right!" they heard Ludwig's voice say. Someone else whimpered, likely Toad. There was a dull smack and it stopped. Wind picked up. BANG! Their ears rung after something exploded and rumbled half of the nails out of the barn. When senses returned they heard a jumble of voices including one in French yelling about whatever was happening. One stood out-

"How can I miss?! I _never_ miss!"

…

The Mario bros kept on trucking with sand filled boots. Luigi's eyes lit up as they finally reached somewhere. Passing under torch lit arches, the entrance of Dry Dry Outpost where it got a lot darker again. The village tents and shops, usually piled with sellers and patrons were closed up, a ghost town of clay buildings until they found someone crawling the streets as lost as them.

"Just my figgin-!" the young but rugged goomba grumbled, retreating around the shop at the corner.

Mario and his brother followed in time to see the baddie take another turn down a narrow alley. They followed all the turns until they were running out the other side of the outpost. Back in the vast desert there was a single palm tree with an oasis and a fire lit with a hammer brother, lakitu, buzzy beetle, and a raven hugged up around it. They all turned to the Mario bros while the hammer brother in particular face palmed.

"Way to go ol' Rholand. We ask ye of one thing and you bring those Mario blokes to us!" Koopfred accused.

Rholand glared with much experience. "You kept crying for a warm blanket so I tried to get one. Okay?"

Mario discreetly acknowledged the signs that they were Bowser affiliated but refrain from seeming too intense too soon. "Felt like a good time for a camp fire? What's up?"

"We arn't important, but I'll tell you anyway. That mulish goomba is Rholand, the buzzy lass is Annie, the other lakitu lass is Lakimay, the ugly boid is Gus and I'm Koopfred. I was with Bowser for the least time before this effin' week. Blah! Know I was a foreigner in Neo Bowser city? Place's pretty diverse these days. I just wanted a good job-"

Mario nodded. "Right. But that's not where I was getting at-"

Koopfred returned to warming himself as the others were. "Like I said, arn't important now. Bowser's done for."

"Done for?" Luigi spoke up. "Doesn't he still have Peach?" He waited for an answer. "At least tell us where he might be!"

The group simultaneously pointed East. After the Mario bros distanced themselves from the unlikely allies so that the fire at the oasis was but a little flicker, Mario stopped and checked his personal item bag. He retrieved the Jewel of the Stars, sparkling in his hand.

Luigi's heart skipped a beat. "Mario! Only Peach-"

He held one hand up to silence him. "Calm down. I'm not going to _use_ it. Not like use it use it. You know? But maybe it can help us find her. This is a huge plot of land."

Luigi's jaw clinched. "But- It's still in the middle of the night. By our standards we're just starting."

"And we can end it quicker if- Ow!" Mario went as Luigi got his free punch in anyway, right in his shoulder.

"Mario. Idiot. I'm serious here. Don't screw with that! Know what we didn't pack also? 1-Ups. Don't get desperate."

Luigi saw Mario's eyes get duller as he put the artifact away. "Idea's on the back burner then."

"-And you can't even operate our new toaster at home so how could you try to work a highly advanced ancient artifact?"

Mario snorted. "True that. By the way, what did you pack in your bag? You haven't opened it yet."

"A telescope stand. You were supposed to bring the telescope."

...On the other side of the desert was a rat race, or a koopa race. Bowser had never hustled so hard down what was eventually to be a paved street in pursuit of a phantom in the wind. He never thought his life easy in any way until he was where he was now, bereaved of his minions he could always send to go forth and do whatever. One call and there could be a dozen para-koopas, or seventy sledge brothers, or five hundred goombas.

"We're still hot on it Boss!" Sentry 11's cloud soared high up for visuals. The markings of feet in the sand could not match any flat footed member of the Koopa Troop.

Bowser followed the princess's prints to the middle of nowhere. There was just sand and the cold, and sand and the moonlight and more sand. Wait. On no, he realized. The terrain was covering over itself and the prints were disappearing. Bowser stopped and caught his breath, dropping to his knees. Was Peach suffering like he was? He hoped somehow Mario's was double. He was startled by dark specks in the sand originating from the tears rolling down his bumpy face. Wheezing, he tried to hold the rest back while others caught up. So much hate. He didn't want Peach anymore. Not worth it. He hated her. No he didn't. He hated Mario. Not entirely it either. He hated himself, manifesting as a pain deep in his bones.

"Boss, see this," Sentry 11 reported from ahead. He dropped something in front of Bowser, Peach's phone but cracked up like it had been stomped.

_"...Why so destructive? This is a waste you know and this could have been recycled or something. I hate it." It was mess but the perpetrator was proud of the various items, boards, props, and fabrics littering the backstage, most torn or beaten, some even burnt. On some one could recognize the words 'Mario Party'._

_Bowser leaned against the door frame playing around on a green fancy gadget. Younger then his hair was vibrantly red and he was more in shape if top heavy, less enervated, kind of handsome. "You are too kind, moustache. We'll get brand new ones for the Mario Party sequel so stop complaining, cause people like seeing you and your idiot friends play minigames for stars. By the way. Here's my number. I just got it, so don't blow it up alright? Get a stupid piece of paper out."…_

"King Dad! Oh nooooooo..."

Bowser heard Lemmy's squeaky voice and felt the sensation of being shaken hard and tugged in several directions by several hands. The figures around him danced in and out of the scope of his blurry vision. It didn't matter. He was done.

...Yoshi and the gang brushed off the tinnitus and went outside the barn. In the square shaped fenced in lot usually for the farm animals there was a huge impact site in the middle, the grass burned crisp, some twisted metal scraps and shards of broken glass reflecting different spots in the soil. Jelectro, Toad, and Boo were all dazed while Ludwig beat his fist into the ground, the handle end of some gun like contraption still grasped in the other. Kylie snapped a picture habitually as Yoshi slapped the koopaling and sent everyone scattering.

"That's enough, koopa!"

"And the rest of you ain't going anywhere!" Daisy screamed. "Get. Your. Butts. Back. Here. And screw Ludwig for becoming a cult leader in the last five minutes. That's whacked out!.. Actually I'm kind of impressed and in another life where I'm not a princess I'd probably be one because it sounds cool and I'm in touch with nature and stuff and I'd make a cult about.. Never mind. Make a move and I'll knock your teeth out." A very effective threat for reasons Daisy likely didn't intend, everyone froze.

"Release me!" Ludwig and Yoshi grappled with each other, both of comparable strength. "The enemy swept over the kingdom and I did not capture it, not even with the cities extra power to by Boo Tracker. Got it? Now it prowls afresh and for MY PEOPLE! Idiot!"

Yoshi tilted his head to the side. "What."

"The Dark Star is heading to Vater and by extension the princess and Mario!"

Hearing the plumber's name, Yoshi noticed he was shaking. He then shoved Ludwig down hard. How dare Ludwig give him chilling images of a world without Mario. Instead of retaliating the koopaling took off and stunned still, Yoshi let it happen.

…

"Do you think all wishes to Eldstar come true?"

Luigi ignored his brother's question as they climbed up the next sand hill. They'd brought water so they hadn't passed out yet, but it also meant it was time for another bathroom break of his, awkward when there was no privacy. Luigi had Mario close his eyes and turn around, bringing him to times past of them exploring in the forest as long as they could before parents yelled at them.

He jumped as he heard Mario rushing over. "I got an alert from Yoshi from Snifit Patrol from Peach who's in the desert with us somewhere! She's waiting among ruins!"

Luigi excited replied, "Dry Dry Ruins?"

"Ding! We have a winner! How'd you-"

"Because I follow all of your adventures bro, even the ones I'm not on. Isn't that place hidden-"

"No, I uncovered it during said adventure. I thought you followed-"

"You go on so many who can keep up?"

"Speaking of which, what's the hold up?" Mario impatiently stopped, turned around, then quickly faced away. "Oops!"

"Oops you're right," the younger brother muttered unhumorously, still in the middle of that 'leak'. "I drink water regularly, unlike you.."

They soon ran in a slightly different direction, Mario guided by instincts he always had revisiting locations (and a pulse stone app). In short time a large structure was in sight. He dashed inside the great ancient temple, lit at the entrance with eternally glowing orange lamps. When Luigi hit the steps, Mario was back out arm in arm with the Princess. Tears ran down their cheeks and it was beautiful, Luigi too ecstatic for there to be any room for jealousy.

"I'm sorry I let this happen-" Mario whispered to Peach.

"Mario, I'm sorry more..." they went on an on.

Luigi checked their six to find someone rolling his way in the dark. They were short, had tall hair and was a koopa. While Mario and Peach were occupied Luigi cautiously met the person. They were entirely pale, not a hint of fight in them, though this person in particular tended to never have that, even in the heat of their battle.

"Mr. Luigi, Mr. Mario, King Dad has a final request to see the princess.." Lemmy announced.

Mario lifted his head up from the princess's shoulder, baffled. "First of all, No! Secondly, a _final_ request?"

Peach faced the Koopaling intensely. "I will do it."

Mario spun from Lemmy to her then to his brother then to the completely black sky, jaw dropped...

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Author's note: ****This is sort of a jumping o****ff**** point for the weirdness. It'll get.. stranger. ****The title of this chapter was a lot more significant in an earlier draft of this chapter but I rewrote things at the very end and still loved the ominous title. Yeah, it'll be significant in the next chapter. Stay tuned.**

**Created: 8/18/19, 8/20, 8/21, 8/22, 8/23, 8/25, 8/26, 8/27, 8/28, 8/29, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 9/11**

**9/12, 9/13, 9/15, 9/16, 9/18, 9/23, 10/9, 11/3, 11/4, 11/6, 11/7, 11/9, 11/10, 11/12, 11/13, 11/14**

**Edited: 4/28/20, 6/22**


	18. The New Mario and Bowser, part 2

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever 2**

**T****he New Mario and Bowser, part 2**** (Chapter 18)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: *Edited a little bit***

* * *

"You're not serious are you?"

Peach slowly nodded, patting away the stream of tears. "I need to see Bowser. I owe him an explanation for something."

Mario held his arm out for her. "Let's go," he said tersely.

"Super! We were, uh, kind of holding Toadsworth hostage if you didn't comply.." Lemmy lead them a few dunes away, not even a mile. Everything was silent all along and Luigi was in the rear with bated breath. He was the last to spot Bowser laid face down in the sand while his family stood around eerily quiet as well, though the look on their faces did the talking for them. Toadsworth unrestrained promptly united with Mario and company as soon as they were in sight. Peach embraced him back but her eyes lingered on Bowser's motionless form, stepping closer.

"As I was trying to explain Bowser, Ludwig may have revived the Mushroom Flu but..I'm afraid to inform you it was originally born in a lab in the Mushroom Kingdom and carefully planted in your territory as a tool to force the Koopa Kingdom into submission."

Mario blinked twice. "-Peach?"

"Mario, let me finish. You might wonder why my father would conspire such and evil plot. I never knew then, younger. I feel I may now but- I will save him grace. I knew he never esteemed the koopa kind, even when mingling peacefully. For your sake Mario, I'll admit they were driven out at one point. This event however was too far even for me back then, tainted by hateful ideas. Blackmail. Yes, but I had to become the princess in charge before my father moved on to some unthinkable horror. At fourteen I sent father away held over his head the devastating secret. It was so unprecedented for a lone princess to rule so young like that. To think I was- and still am to this day looked up do for that 'brave' responsibility. If only they knew.." She tilted her head down and covered half shamefully as Toadsworth detached from her in shock.

"Preposterous!" he nearly grumbled. "I've been in the Kingdom's service for so long I saw you in the nappies, princess. That is a slap in the face to the King AND your late mother. The reason- the laws- I don't agree with all the King did but..it wasn't that simple.." He sighed, reddened in the face and seeming guilty. "You understand don't you all?"

"No. I honestly don't," Luigi spoke up unemotionally.

Lemmy spun towards his family and found blank and confused faces. "Is what I'm hearing true?"

"There totally wasn't anything about the origins in Ludwig's case notes on Mushroom Flu." Iggy shrugged.

Kamek's gaze was fixed in a seemingly random direction. "Of course. That information isn't even a matter of public Mushroom Kingdom history. Not anymore at least. Lord Bowser and I back then regarded it as a freak pandemic in Dark Land. That's all I can say, Lemmy."

Mario took a deep breath. "Hate to say this, but, it's over now. Sorry you went though that and I hate to leave it like this, but we need to get Peach home."

Bowser, lifeless until that point, opened his eyes rested them on Mario. Their gaze locked on for what felt like years. "Moustache, not so fast. Get over here."

Mario stepped up to him, arms crossed and boots at Bowser's snout. He waited for a prolonged moment he was sure Bowser was doing on purpose. "I'll humor you. This is still a surrender right?"

"Yeah I surrender, but I wanna be straight with you on something. Lay it all out. Give ya the truth for once, 'cause you aren't just any dumb plumber to me."

Mario's head tilted to the side.

"No, I think about how much I can't stand you everyday. I use a poster of you as a dartboard. I enter your name as the computer rival in my kid's video-games. I thought about custom ordering a floor mat with your face on it. You're that other name I mumble in my sleep occasionl-alright all of the time. Aside from Peach. Quit that stupid smiling, I'm not done roasting you! I tell ya what, I gotta new vocation. I think I'll be a chef in a grill steak house!"

Mario let out the breath he'd been holding and laughed almost. "That? Go for it. You go through a lot you know. You deserve to be happy about something I.. guess," he admitted with a flush. He was stared down by Luigi and everyone else with dubiety.

Bowser then rose on his elbows, lively all of a sudden. "Shuddup haters. Oh, last thing. Fix your dumb hat."

Mario checked it as suggested. The cap he'd had as long as he'd remembered covered his unwashed brown hair just fine. The next thing he felt was something clamp tightly around his left ankle. Then- his heart skipped a beat.

"Got ya, moustache!"

Mario was flailed in the air by Bowser in a circle before he let go, launching him ten feet away. Mario earned a mouthful of sand and a chipped tooth when he landed face first. Who didn't love a fight at the end of an adventure, he thought. Exhilarated he faced around and zoned in on the flare in 'The Enemy's' eyes. Red met blue. The twisted frenemy feeling was euphoric. Lemmy or someone, Mario wasn't really paying attention, wailed about a 'Kingly Law' being violated as Bowser charged his way like a bullet bill. Mario grabbed Bowser by the horns before he got gored and together they stumbled all the way back until a palm tree stopped them, Mario wedging between Bowser and the tree. The plumber used all of the strength he had to prevent being impaled while maintaining eye contact the entire time.

"This is it Mario, no sequels! IT'S GONNA END HERE!"

"You had me going!" Mario flashed a pained smile.

Bowser punched at him, the strike missing and making the upper half of the tree crack in half and tether. "Your fault, pipes-for-brains. Like I ever give up! I'm insulted, I thought we were closer than that! Er, forget it."

The trunk snapped in half and the leaves went everywhere, covering Bowser as Mario rolled away. The plumber sprung up as the foliage erupted into Bowser's flames. "I know you never quit," Mario said to himself. "That's what I've always liked best about you.."

Luigi leaned up, unaware until that moment that he'd been knocked down in the commotion that followed. Bowser's league had everything happening obscured behind their bulky shells. Peach's cupped over her face. A slash at the plumber's face drew blood and in return a barefisted punch aimed at Bowser's mug knocked out a sharp tooth. The chaotic tumble, rough and unchoreographed galvanized all to keep up yet paralyzed them from intervening. There was no yawning or sleepy eyes any longer as Mario dodged another flame blast hot enough to melt the sand. With that they had a platform now for the fight, a glassy reflective one.

"Get him daddy! Get him!" Junior screeched, fists enthusiastically jutting in the air.

"Oh nonononononono," Lemmy repeated.

"Break that plumbers neck!" Roy roared.

"Protect your neck!" Wendy countered.

"What else is on TV?" Kammy wondered.

"This because I'm recording the entire thing," Iggy retorted, activating advanced smart glasses.

Luigi said absolutely nothing.

"Mario, beat up dad! I won't get grounded for this right? Screw it, I'm still freaking pissed!" Larry concluded.

Peach felt the air grow colder and wasn't a dramatic effect from the fight. She twisted around to witness the stars black out hauntingly behind them. The miles of desert became darker. "Luigi!" She yanked him back and he tripped backward over her toes. "That thing is back and it still wants Bowser!" she cried.

Luigi shot up to retrieve the get item they'd carefully transported to the desert. His gloved fingers didn't prevent the painful zap from the spark. As he winced the jewel slipped from his grasp. Peach bent her body towards it and stared blankly, with so many trinkets she should have known this one, The Jewel of the Stars, yet her feelings for it were like not unlike for her unpopular items in the back of her closet, IE. anything not pink. She didn't have a clue what to do with it.

"Careful Peach. As you just saw, messing with it can go about as smooth as alcohol and painkillers," Luigi told her very frankly.

Peach looked up at him, lips slightly parted as thunder cracked in the skies. It got louder as her hair blew. Luigi's too, then he felt sick.

_...His brother shakes him, screaming while he slumps off the couch limply. His reoccurring nightmares are reality. Another day after day after day of dread and anxiety and fear... So he chooses to not wake up that morning. His brother stops forcing him on adventures until some time later something changes. Luigi begins to venture out on his own. The older brother never questions it._

_…Peach is woken up early to meet a new guest and quickly dressed by her servants. A proper little pink dress with ribbons is fitted over her hair, messy until as a brush runs down it a dozen times. The five year old is taken down red carpeted steps next. Her uncomfortable black shoes tap the marble floors on the way to the front of the castle where a toad doctor she's never seen before awaits besides her father, the Mushroom King. The doctor has a purple cap and a black moustache. He pays respects while her father awaits a curtsy. Instead Peach asks what happened to Doctor Koopa, the previous doctor she took fancy to. They could talk about anything she could imagine to ask. Why was there something odd about the castle's paintings? How did blocks float? Why were they at war with Dark Land? Her lack of action deemed disrespectful, she gets a light rebuke and no explanation, and later an indirect punishment that hurts her more than any words can. The castle's library is found to be locked from that point on. Peach decidedly stops questioning. After all, if the simplest things don't have a reason what is the point?_

_...She is rescued again from Bowser and it's routine except for her hero for the day. The stranger cradles her and carries her out of the crumbling Fortress. In the grassy field she sees sun setting and shouts joyously as he does. He is young physically yet matured by troubles in his past. He's sweet, his altruism unmistakable and Peach feels relaxed. He poses questions. Their exchanges flow freely, cordial and professional. Flirtation if any is surface level only, the precedent in their relationship from then on. Inevitably the more famous hero comes up. He explains that his brother's obsession stirs him into action. She begs for him to clarify. He stops speaking as a shooting star from East to West stretches across the sky frighteningly low it appears. He pulls her closer protectively when it returns, wrapping around the Earth for the second time. Then it stops before them and drops! They both fall backwards as the purple glow draws near. It burns their vision the closer it gets before the message comes through:_

_'~Do you know what that was? That was the vision...you get...before you die~'_

_..._

"Yoshi forgive me being a jerk at times. I'm not a team player. Sorry." Ludwig sprung over the fence with his own creative spin on the flutter jump technique and off he was.

"Ludwig!" Yoshi yelled. Something broke him out of that stupor and it seemed to be his phone over off from some emergency signal. From the princess!.. Which Mario surely got at as well! Yoshi stared at the blinding bright screen in the dark and couldn't believe it.

Meanwhile a girl, Daisy, barged through the wooden barrier entirely to chase Ludwig. "Listen, dawg! You can screw with me but NOT my friends!"

Legitimately afraid, Ludwig bustled away from Daisy down a long country road. _Very_ country, a tractor bypassed, sleeping moo moos on the sides, rickety shack like houses, and a forlorn looking robotic dinosaur with red flashing eyes awaiting further orders on the curb. "A Mecha-Yoshi!… Here, boy! Stop the deranged woman back there!" Ludwig told it. The art of deflection, also how he handled the delicate situation months back of Bowser Junior's estranged pet chain-chomp preparing to rip his priceless music sheets to shreds.

Daisy got tackled like a chargin' chuck by the Mecha-Yoshi, creating a tumble that tripped up Yoshi. Kylie and Mitch trailed their best before Kylie had to stop for photos.

Ludwig was then dazzled by car headlamps the middle of the road and blue flashing. A certain theme began to play in the military commander's mind, a kind of reggae song involving 'bad boys'. He slowed down and prepared to divert in another direction when shouting came from a megaphone.

"Stop right there, partner!" Jr. Troopa said from the open passenger door of the cop car.

The driver's door opened up on the other side from someone else, Snifit Patrol. "Good thing I recharged the batteries!"

There was a rapid electrical click from a taser obscured by the door. Nope, not doing that again! Ludwig cut through the fields, long outstretched leaves of corn slapping him in the face until he emerged to the other side. He had to keep racing the Dark Star to World 2 before the unthinkable could happen as had a backup plan, an extra cell phone in his pocket. Ludwig always respected Luigi in a weird way, one of the few normal people in the pool of neurotics that was his sad social life and always willing to grin and bear it. How else could that plumber tolerate Captain Toad so long? Also how could that toad forget his second 'work' cellphone containing a PDF of just the book Ludwig needed? Using that Ludwig had finally been able to read more about these star endued items, as there were more in the Mushroom world than just the jewels, that could act in resistance of stars from the dark realm- But only if used correctly! He needed to be there when the jewel was used, as there was no way anyone really would know on their own unassisted. Certainly not Peach assuming she was still okay, and that wasn't a blonde joke.

Ludwig then realized he wasn't imaging the shrill electronic beeping in the middle of a field of last century wagons and sickles and ploughs and harrows. He spotted the tail end of a silver expensive luxury car buried under rubble from what used to be a shed. A back door hung open so he slid in the crushed up and cramped space to be out of the open.

"Whoa.." Ludwig involuntarily relaxed on the plush leather. "I _have_ to get these installed in our airships somehow."

"You are kind to your subjects," remarked Jelectro in the front seat, the side that didn't have the windshield shattered by wooden beams. He'd beaten the Prince by minutes.

Ludwig peeked around the headrest with a flash of guilt. "Detective! I took flight without you, and those others really. My appol-"

"Save it, mon ami. Souciez-vous de vos propres affaires. You are too late to beat your adversary! No one can travel that fast and something will happen no matter what in Desert Land."

".." Ludwig went white all over. "But- Je vais devoir recourir à mon troisième plan, puis les choses deviendront drastiques!"

"Votre français est meilleur que prévu.."

"Merci." Ludwig smiled before the panic returned. He plopped back into the seat, breaking into a cold sweat. "Eldstar!"

"Indeed, mon ami," Jelectro replied precariously. Finally the noki twisted around to face him. Sunglasses missing, his eyes were clouded over.

Ludwig slipped out the car again, shaken by that, and found himself facing Yoshi. The dinosaur's arm grabbed Ludwig's and his glare was intense, but not in anger this time. "Show's over." Yoshi then smiled which made the koopaling even more unsettled. "Peach has been rescued and everything will be fine. They're probably skipping back home while we speak!"

…

Hero and villain continued their skirmish, a swing of the tail here, a round kick there, a fire ball and a jet stream, unaware of what was developing. Disturbed, everyone scattered with no where to hide as the stars blacked out. They wanted to grab the rivals apart but nothing worked and Peach and Luigi remained on their backs, a hand clasped to each other like dead planks. The clouds cried for blood and sonic waves beat down on the landscape. The countless dunes were toppled over by vicious quaking became a sand tsunami with a force strong enough to pull anyone down from the greatest to the least.

In the midst of the pandemonium something resembling intelligible voice forced itself upon any conscious enough to listen. "BOWSER! I MUST REWARD MY EMANCIPATOR AND ALL CONNECTED AND I MUST FINISH THIS NOW. WIPE THAT LOOK OFF OF YOUR FACE. I DON'T MAKE THE RULES."

Bowser, encased in sand up to his neck, picked his jaw up. He must have blacked out. Sand was falling from the sky like rain heavily and he knew this was bad even for someone as resilient as him. He only wished for two things then: to be embraced by someone he cared about and to beat Mario. Those wishes not only came true but blended _disgustingly_. Somewhat. Hate and love, so far apart on the spectrum for the person rushing to him, they'd met on the other side.

Human hands materialized around his spiked collar with a firm grip. "Ready? In 1, 2, 3- GO!"

Bowser was pulled upwards with a force nearly taking his head. "M-Mario?! I'm glad to see you! No I'm not! I mean- What the heck are you doing?"

"Whaddya think? I already dug up-" Mario proceeded to list off each person he'd found, a very strong tug following each name. He succeeded in bringing the top of Bowser's shoulder above ground for all of two seconds. It rained Earth that would soon make the koopa a head in the sand again. Bowser's eyelids were puffed up and red and he coughed, ingesting sand every moment. So weathered, so fatigued, so winded, it was gravely clear. Not even Mario could save him.

"Mario.. Mario! Just stop! STOP!" Bowser slumped down. "It's over. No tricks. Just leave me here before you get buried alive too."

Mario felt the wind knocked out of him harder than the fight they'd just had- or any fight- ever did to him. "...Bowser." He dropped down and embraced the rival, cautiously at first then he squeezed tighter, closer, taking in everything, the good and bad. "Don't say that. Ever. I'm supposed to pack this adventure up without you? You mean you're not gonna be the boss at the end of my next game?! We're not going to idly make threats over the phone while I'm on my couch as Koopra plays in the background and you're in your throne room with the door locked 'cause you're insecure about your minions hearing you? W-we're not gonna.. even just play tennis or something? I dunno!" Mario sighed out. He felt the bassy rumble from Bowser's voice against his chest as he replied.

"That's how it is.." Bowser said in a bitter and hurt way even he didn't expect. "Ain't you happy...that I'll be out of your hair now?...You'll have Peach all for your self. You want me dead. You finally freaking win, Mr. hero. Admit it."

Mario jolted to his feet. "No I don't! I never have. I can't imagine you not being around. Do you know how I actually.. feel? I- Listen, I will _never_ leave you and you're gonna make it out of this!" Mario suddenly turned upwards at the sky with a scowl. "You heard me, Dark Star punk?!"

Mario shouting to the heavens? Bowser could never imagine himself that bold. Not at a time like this, so beaten down by life. At that moment, more than any of the many climatic fights they'd had over the decades, Mario seemed 'super' to Bowser. It was a weird feeling. He was bad, Mario was good. No room for compassion. This didn't compute, not the situation, not the fluttering in his stomach, not the-

"THAT IS ENOUGH. QUITE ENOUGH. YOU ARE MAKING ME SICK," the dark star boomed, hidden beside the frightful vortex in the sky.

That was what it took. Peach and Luigi rose up from their backs, out of the trance. The glow from the jewel in Peach's lap poured over them and restored sensibility. Disrupting Peach's inspired mission, her elbows begin to buckle, but Luigi's larger hands wrapped around hers and together they rose the jewel upwards. The clouds clashed as the invisible killer coiled up in preparation for its final attack. A black lightning bolt darted from the center to the storm's eye to the Earth as the blazing jewel rose above Luigi and Peach's temples, releasing white gleaming beam as wide as the area. It blasted into the sky, ripping a hole through the tempest. The only sound next was the thump of their heartbeats.

...

"Arr! We'd be off this island if we just ate Noki already. He messes everything up-"

BOOM! A star warrior fell onto a shaggy carpet, ears ringing. The television set blew up randomly a second ago. His eyes felt like they had meteor rock in them, his muscles were stiff, he'd made a deep imprint the couch, and he had a shaggy beard, all of this despite not having a physical manifestation at the moment. Geno as they called him in human terms, stumbled out of his home and onto the asteroid his docked airship on. Nebula 9 stretched above with purple ambient rays made silvery by the energy glimmer ofhis new visitor, a star that crashed into and snapped his electric pole. There went the TV series he'd gotten subscribed to recently, _extremely_ addictive hits like 'Honeyhive Galaxy's Got Talent' and 'The Pianta Syndicate'.

Geno approached the small black colored star. She had white eyes and a bowler hat crooked innocently enough, yet dazed as he was he knew that something had blasted her into this dimension and it was his duty to investigate. Her very ancient looking shoulder bag frayed from the impact and strolled across the metallic rocky crystals that were the yard were her belongings, pearls from 200 AD, make up, and a wooden cigar box marked 'Zack'.

"How did you get here?"

Eyeing him up and down equally she laughed him off. "And who are you to instigate? Go back to watching reruns, loser!" She was blocked by a bubble around her, a force field. Spinning around to face Geno again with eyes flashing in anger she found him holding a glowing star rod.

"Instead Eldstar and the others will be hearing about your kind meddling in the Light World." Confidently Geno was already sending a message to the Star Temple. "Hello? This is (heart)(musicnote)!?. Wait, I'm speaking to voicemail?"

The message played out loud and clear but the Star Guardians were too busy enjoying season seventy of 'Noki's Island'. All seven were present and the curious black box Klevar installed a year prior had their attention on hold with a vice grip. Cooped up in the den they were gratified in an empty and meaningless but self sustaining way that could last indefinitely.

All the while, the shield holding the dark star in developed faint cracks. A single star rod could only do so much. In acquiescence Geno got a hold of another friend for backup, a bit less reliable...

...

Back on Earth an area three football fields large had its topography turned upside down, dunes sheered down, dinosaur bones unearthed, and landmarks erased. Curious ones from Dry Dry Outpost stepped into another world upon investigation. There were mounds in the sand shaped vaguely like bodies and a scaly arm reached out of the ground and grabbed Rholand's leg. The goomba screamed and kicked as Wendy O. emerged from the spot, revealing herself to the ex-Koopa Troop members from the oasis that were curious over the great commotion.

"Oww, I'm alive!" she wailed back, coughing.

One by one people rose from the sand. There were the Koopalings, Kamek, Kammy, Sentry 11, Toadsworth, Peach, and lastly Luigi in what became a frenzy.

The younger brother's head seared from the headache so much he could hardly stand. "Where's Mario?!" he bellowed, interrupting the chatter from others when they realized that the more famous plumber and Bowser for that matter were unaccounted for. They searched around with woozy steps while the sentry zipped around in the sky, his cloud surviving the storm.

"Hey Boss! We found you.." reported Sentry 11 over an deep impression in the ground. He peered down it with his binoculars. "Oh.. Boss.. Y-you're dead.." he trailed off, binoculars falling out of his grasp.

Luigi and Lemmy could not have rushed over quicker. Both dropped down the trench and uncovered from the scorched ground around Mario and Bowser like their lives depended on it. They couldn't believe that lakitu at least, until they noticed neither hero or villain moving. Numbly Lemmy and Luigi faced each other, the deepest void residing in both of them.

...

"Kidnapping princesses is not _all_ we did. The Koopa Troop initially helped with Neo Bowser City and you know how that changed the economy. Really most transgressive values come from us, specifically integration of friendly and enemy species. In short, things will be fine." Ludwig replied from the stage to a Toad Town representative snapping photos. It was the tenth question, predicted and rehearsed for in the one hour he'd had to prepare. The Koopaling jittered from the obscene amounts of coffee he'd guzzled. He hadn't slept since he was officially released from Southern Mushroom Kingdom custody.

"Is our princess really safe just because Bowser's dead?" someone interjected.

Ludwig gazed about trying to pinpoint the voice in the bereaved crowd of Mario's memorial service. It was an packed outside event in the Toad Town Park, the gloom contrasted with a sunny and beautiful sky. "The Princess is safe. The Troop's values have shifted, but I disagree when you state Vater, King Bowser I mean, is dead. He's not really. 'No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence.' So… Vater, excuse me Bowser, my father is not really gone. Vielen Dank." The once hardened Koopa Troop prince (and not king due to logistics involving Bowser Junior) quickly excused himself from the platform and slipped behind the curtain before the tear had a chance to trickle.

The meeting kept going all morning, technically the same day and less than eight hours after the early morning incident. There were speeches given in Mario's honor, a few songs played all from the popular levels, and lots of sorrow.

Luigi meanwhile made breakfast after his lukewarm shower. It was mildly burnt, the way Mario would have done it. The death of his brother hadn't seemed real until he woke up. Maybe Luigi could have been quicker here or there, maybe he should have just let Mario try to use the jewel early, maybe maybe maybe. He remained alone and cut off from the world, especially since his cellphone was still broken. But.. maybe he should start using Mario's cell now. He grabbed it off the nightstand in a surreal moment. That's what he'd want, the older brother hated electronic waste. He ignored the pipe from World 3 that was still leaking in the backyard and left his and his brother's home to walk around Toad Town in plain clothes, black slacks and a white short sleeved shirt. Without Mario too much was carved out of his heart and he was a shell meandering about.

He reached a random Toad Town bench on a quiet block and tiredly sat on it. He was done with the day and it wasn't even lunch yet...

"_Do you know what that was?"_

Luigi snapped back awake, having fallen asleep. "-What you see before you die?"

Ludwig stood well dressed and unemotional. "If they get out of hand. You should see the political rallies in Dark Land. No actually I meant that Mario's memorial from the princess was clearly a peace proposal. I accept, I certainly don't want to kidnap your princess. She's not my type."

Luigi rose up. "You're getting away with walking down Toad Town streets," he said clinically. "Wow. Times are changing."

"Indeed." The Koopaling offered a hand so they shook. It oddly assured Luigi so see the prince push so hard for formality. "We are _the new Mario and Bowser _ once things settle. Hear me, you have my deepest sympathies. Your brother gave me the hardest fights in castles and fortresses, along with you of course. He was a fearless leader and hero and I can respect that, even from the opposite side."

Luigi paused, shyly keeping focus on his boots. "Same for your dad. I never thought he was, like, a monster or anything. He was really determined to do what he set his life on and a lot of people can learn from that. He never gave up. Ever." He lifted his head. "That's where you got your determination from and I can see you'll be a good, uh, friend? Enemy?"

"Frenemy?"

Luigi smiled. "Yeah that. What are you going to do now if you aren't interested in Peach?"

That seemed to catch Ludwig off guard, then he returned the grin if mischievously. "Executing my most daring plan, if you dare to learn about it."

Luigi's eyebrow raised.

"Can we speak somewhere more private?" Ludwig continued.

There was a giant doomship planted square in a moo moo field near Southern Mushroom Kingdom but still in Toad Town. Undisturbed from the work they'd done all morning, the massive tragedy kept locals shut in their homes. Luigi got a bad feeling right away as there were several miles it seemed worth of tubing running from some suspiciously important looking sewer lines running into a black boxy object installed next to the airship. Luigi was so stunned he walked right into a pasturing moo moo and the cow won, bouncing the plumber backwards.

"I told Roy cow tipping was fake," remarked Iggy, in a reserved way that wasn't like him. Luigi watched him roll extra tubing supply into open fold up door behind the airship. That comment was ignored by the bullheaded bully. Roy just sat in grass with his arms crossed. The other Koopa children Luigi could spot here and there but they were mostly stationary, passing time, or dejected other than Junior running around playing with a toy airship and making the buzzing noises with his mouth.

"Luigi, have your heard of the 'flutter effect'?" Ludwig asked, grabbing his attention. "The most seemingly unimportant thing can change life dramatically? Oh you didn't? Well it's flawed. The death of our beloved was orchestrated clearly by a higher power, the Dark Star and we only made it out ourselves by Eldstar's grace. This brings us to my plan, a spectacular one I would have never considered had an eccentric detective not spoken with me."

Luigi felt a pit in his stomach. Something about the sparkle in the prince's blue eyes.. "Where are you going with that? You can't change things that's already happened."

"Can you? If something unorthodox started this affair something equally as unconventional should fix it." Beaming as bright as the sun Ludwig marched before one of many random shapes cut very cleanly and intricately in the high grass.

Luigi became nauseated. "The heck?! A pentagram? Do you even know what that is?"

Larry paused as if a spotlight was shown on him while in the middle of pulling along a dirty lawnmower. "What? I thought it looked cool on one of Roy's heavymetal albums.."

Luigi tore himself away from the unsettling mark in the pasture. "Whatever you're about to dabble in ain't gonna happen. Quit it!"

"Luigi Mario? Dare you speak authoritatively?" Ludwig had his back against the black mysterious object and he spoke with a glee Luigi had never heard before. The machine itself gave off a hum and Luigi could feel the tickle of electricity on his exposed arms. "We gathering power now and the plan will commence regardless of your opinion. Deal with it, plumber."

Luigi met eye to eye with the koopaling. "Guess what? I want you to try!" He grabbed Ludwig's fancy blue blazer by the collar.

Ludwig smirked back. "You _are_ the Mario and I am the Bowser after all!"

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Author note: Uh, yeah. Not so over is it?**

**Created: 8/29/19, 8/30, 9/2, 9/4, 9/8, 9/10, 9/11, 9/12, 9/13, 9/15, 9/16, 9/17, 9/18, 9/22, 9/23 -Rewritten from this point on. 11/15/19, 11/17, 11/19, 11/20, 11/22, 11/24, 11/26**

**Edit: 4/29/20, 6/23**

**Regarding Ludwig's quote, '****sauce' below:**

"**No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence." ― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man**


	19. Luigi's Awesomely Ambivalent Allegory

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever Redux**

**Luigi's Awesomely Ambivalent Allegory (Chapter 19)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: *Newly rewritten* The ensemble meets Twilight Zone! **

* * *

The realms afar had no choir for the great fallen hero. Everything was quiet for the star warrior planted firmly in place to guard the dark star in her entrapment. With no response to his distress call yet, Geno was trapped also in a way, stuck in an uncomfortable stalemate because she was shrewd enough to not enlighten him in any way regarding her purpose.

"Getting tired?" she purred.

A loud and staticky but benign pop went off behind Geno, the five hundredth and twenty-seventh phantasm to try to catch him off guard. He'd counted. "Cease that, please." Next he thought was the five hundredth and twenty-eighth as his shadow grew from a new light source. Her tricks were getting better, he thought. This time he could feel the heat and smell the embers-

WHAM! The celestial bodies above became white streaks across the sky while the planetoid was jettisoned out of orbit. It careened into the neighboring Good Egg galaxy and bounced around like a ping pong ball before finally resting into a slow spin near Pear planet. Geno lifted furniture and scraps of debris off him. There was a deep fissure in the land taking half of his house down with it. TV? Gone. Precious jar of frog coins? Gone. Geno was conscious enough to spot the object responsible for the impact. See! Alive, glowing, radiant! The Millennium Star then swooped down like a pidgit beside Geno to land with a frightening thud.

"Ho-ho-ho, I rushed here when I recieved your message. Is Eld really absent?"

Geno quickly shook himself awake. "Y-yeah I'm not sure what's going on but thanks for just showing up buddy! Help me find where.. she went!" He gestured in the general area where the bubble used to be.

"Who?"

"HA HA HA." A ripple of dark mater rolled over the jagged boulders and pebbles on the edge of the fissure and rose into the atmosphere to escape. Millennium Star sent a beam of light but the two forces missed completely (and then proceeded to blast part some other unfortunate planet miles away).

"I'll handle the crafty she-devil. You check on Great Eld." Mill. Star flailed into action and Geno respected the older star's orders, heading to the Star Temple.

…

Luigi parked the Mach bike farther than usual and flinched at seeing Peach's neat hedges flattened by a large tractor and other big company trucks. He didn't recognize any faces to the toads wandering around with florescent hard hats so he weaved around them, including the contractors inspecting where there the stone moat was chopped in half. He made the seven foot leap to the other side uneventfully, almost like the good old days, until he feet splashed in the water flowing from under the door. He rushed in with the mat key and discovered a water stream from the stairs to the mezzanine to the check-board tiles and an inch up on his boots. He could even hear the clanging of the leaking pipes. He knew two days ago Friday the castle crashed down from the sky, but there seemed to be zero restoration progress indoors. The lights were out and trash littered the floor. Peach's stained-glass portrait from the balcony was even shattered and the pieces crunched under his feet.

Now that was sacrilege.

"Is anyone home?"

The second floor's door was gently pushed open by Peach. Hair down, she wore an unanticipated light grey simple dress with matching rubber rain boots. "Everyone else left me alone here, just join them."

Luigi slowly met her on the stairs. "What? What happened? Where are your toads?"

"There was a great fit all morning! I confessed to ALL of the toads about my mistake and that went quite.. unwell. But worse Toadsworth went deranged. That was it, _I_ broke him, Luigi! He wanted nothing to do with the castle and the toads followed his course of leave, even secretary Toad Toad."

Luigi pulled her in close embrace. He felt gentle shaking from her as she wepted into his shoulder. "The Koopalings are still in town trying to cause trouble, that's why I'm here. I mean, who else will stop-? Forget it. If you're not up for an epilogue to an adventure no one asked for, I don't blame you." They pulled apart a little so that he held her arms.

Peach's expression eased. "You just sounded like your brother." She squeezed his hands tighter with a weak smile. "I think.. I want to help."

Toad Town had nothing going on, at least down town, with stale air. Everything including the Post Office was closed and they didn't even pass a Mushroom Bus. Luigi spotted in the corners of his vision the periodic mementos of his brother posted up as banners on buildings, "In Memory Of.." ect. His hands were quivering on the handle bars and feeling the panic attack coming on, he look for an excuse for a short break. He found one. Outside the Toadley Clinic the doctor's assistant was dragging a lab table to the sidewalk's edge.

"Will I move out of town? Yes I will," Dr. Toadley explained to Luigi and Peach, arms tucked into the thick fur lined coat he wore. Birdley was perched on his left shoulder placidly.

"Prof. E. Gadd offered a small workshop in Boo Woods," his assistant added in a succinct but cordial way. "The square footage would not accommodate the doctor's outdated- ah hem- vintage instruments. (Thank goodness!)" Constantly moving until that point, she dropped her hot pink colored bags next to the compact little car with a psychedelic custom paint job. "Oh, and sorry about Mario," she tacked on, blushing. "Umm. He was really cool and- I was in the fan club when I still studied in college. For a bit, those people were nuts. Anyway great guy. We'll miss him."

…

The many acres of flat territory south of Toad Town but before the official southern boarder and into more desert like conditions was an area was known as 'Area 64'. In the past Shroobs landed there according to legend. Luigi stopped next to the big object covered in black tarp with the thick wires. When Peach stepped close strings of her hair stood up on their own. She decidedly did not peek under the cover.

Luigi scanned around. It was so flat he could see for miles. Miles with zero Koopa activity. "We missed them."

"No no. We still have the airship dear, and Ludwig stows notes there assuming Junior doesn't doodle on the backs and loses them, or if Larry hasn't hid them to sabotage his plans. In that case we need to check the bathroom also, in the medicine cabinet. Iggy's cell phone should be simple to discover for clues, not that he's politically inclined, but he adores science and methodical nature of schemes and he lets his phone drain to seven percent before he panics and keeps it glued to the charger. Wendy's room might be worth checking out because I know she's secretly interested in her brother's plans and will xerox papers and blueprints... Luigi?" Tapping her rain boot impatiently, Peach stood at the airship's inner hatch. "Shall we enter? -And, don't look at me like I should not know those things. I have spent a percentage of my life I don't want to calculate as Bowser's captive."

They made their way in. A wave of dust and must burned Luigi's nostrils while Peach was unbothered. The squeaks of their shoes went along with the squeaks of the mouser infestation. Luigi followed Peach wind through all sorts of things he never knew was in an airship, like laundry room. They went up creaky spiral steps to the captain's quarters. Peach zoned to Iggy's phone on the charger and swiped the passcode. With a flush sat it back down gently and shook her head. Luigi went the table of darkened cast steel. There were maps of territories rolled out and kept flat with rocks along with a feather pen fossilized in place. Dark Land must have looked very different before he and Mario entered the Mushroom World. Half of the kingdom was just swamp land at some point. The drawer under the table was empty. The pushed in ragged antique chair had the imprint to suggest that it was Bowser's but it was pale with dust also, untouched.

"Ludwig must be keeping all of the plans on himself personally," Luigi admitted.

They went back out to see something coming from Toad Town. The silver patrol car had its flashers and siren on, contrasting with its leisurely cruise off road and into the field with them. It stopped and Yoshi got out from the passenger door. Like they'd never seen before he had a pressed army green ranger hat on and a belt.

Yoshi only then noticed who he stood before. There was a flash of strong emotion on his face before everything flattened. "Guys- You aren't authorized to be here!"

Luigi stared back silently for a few seconds while Peach subtly backed behind him. How did his oldest friend (or Mario's at least) slip his mind all morning? "Yoshi, we were- Ludwig is trying to-"

The driver's side window rolled down. "We're aware Mr. Luigi. We were already pursuing Ludwig as he stole my phone yesterday."

Captain Toad in the driver's seat flashed a little grin that made the plumber's skin crawl. Peach's fingers curled into Luigi's as Yoshi, with some reservation, fiddled with the objects on his belt. Standard issue for law enforcement there was a flashlight, a radio, and handcuffs!

"Heeeey!" Yoshi called as Peach and Luigi sprinted to the Mach Bike to escape down the road. Dust was kicked in his face and the hat blown off his noggin as a car also zoomed past him, The Captain in the cruiser for a chase. Yoshi sighed in annoyance as the vehicle became a smaller object in the distance. He was certain he and the toad both agreed that Yoshi would call the orders. Right after Mario's memorial swore to be Toad Town's defender against the Bowser 2.0s of the world, especially with Peach in hiding (not anymore obviously) and Luigi missing (again, not anymore). The Captain wedged into Yoshi's plans at the last minute. Now Yoshi was alone with doom ship, the object under the tarp, and no backup.

The dinosaur approached the tarp, braving the ticklish feeling over his green skin. He yanked it off bracing himself. The machine resembled a punch card computer, twice as tall as him and five times as wide with spinning wheels visible from slits near the top. Plastic panels wrapped around the metal was salmon colored and directly opposite of the tubing he could see where something would connect with a massive power plug. Yoshi made his mental notes and then continued on to his next task of securing the area from bystanders. Rumor said, something big was imminent.

…

Luigi's bike veered through a narrow gap in between two old country fences, barging in someone's backyard and disturbing their chickens. Clucks and caws and cuckoos ensued as they embraced the Southern territory with open arms filled with feathers, Mt. Rugged poking up from the horizon in the distance. Luigi was subconsciously guided towards the southern hospital, the only landmark he knew. He banged on the locked door of the ranch styled western building. Peach joined him with delicate fists replicating the rapping.

"Be patient, y'hear?" Probabilly snapped. The parakoopa janitor stepped up onto the porch with a heavy bundle of keys in hand. Just when inserting the key-

Jr. Troopa peek through the shutters on the door then shut them tightly. "Don't grant 'em in Bill! I can't help no one today. Too painful. I should of been nicer to Mario! I should of!" he cried from the other side. Probabilly glanced back at the plumber and princess in both sympathy and in suggestion that he wasn't going to let them in after all.

"Now what?" Luigi begged as they were back in the middle of the South's dirt streets.

Acutely Peach spotted a dark open barn sure to be filled with tools and blunt objects and saws. "We go there and defend ourselves."

Luigi's jaw dropped.

"Quickly, dear! There was a reason I pulled you away from The Captain, so just do it!"

They scurried across the plot to there, tripping over some of the Mecha-Yoshis lined up against the wall, deactivated but still sporting red glowing eyes. Countless mechanical parts from vehicles, computers, farm equipment, and radios were in rusty piles all through the loosely organized room.

"_Bother some other vermin...Junior. It's my break time._" someone slurred. Only Vick's tall ten-gallon hat was visible from the gamery computer chair turned backwards. The patooie plant's multi-monitor setup displayed a plethora of sitcoms and television programs. Jolly Roger Bay Watch was the biggest screen and despite both hating that show, Luigi and Peach felt a strange near hypnotic effect. That was broken however when they heard a car pull up outside. They scampered behind metal oil drums as Captain Toad invited himself in. Finally able to see him completely, he was dressed normally with a valiant fixed expression. Their hearts thumped with greater intensity when his lamp went on full blast and swept the cluttered barn's interior. It was then when Peach's fingers walked over to a heavy spanner, she guessed, in the dark. She grabbed it then-

"Identify!" Mecha-Yoshi #7 blared very loudly. Peach dropped the weapon, Vick fell out of his computer chair and the Captain got a single glance at it before the robotic dino tail smacked him. The Captain banged against the other side of the shed. The Mecha-Yoshi sniffed the air with a childlike twist of its neck then unleashed a pink expandable tongue on the toad. It uttered an electronically distorted "YOSHI!" as he was swallowed whole. Luigi crawled from around their hiding place. Peach was instantly tugging on him and leading out.

"I'll handle this y'all," was the half awake drawl of Vick as they were leaving.

Outside they had a new getaway option with the key in the ignition ready to go.

...Yoshi completed this blockage across the street that went from Toad Town to Area 64, hay bales no car could cross unless really determined. Finally he saw The Captain returning with their expensive rented patrol car. It was about time. Yoshi leaned down into the tinted window as it rolled down. Wham! Luigi punched him and he flew backwards seeing stars.

"Explain dear friend! Do not forget who I am!" Peach held him down with a fearsome glare.

"Peach?" Yoshi sputtered. "What is there to explain? Don't you know?"

"What?"

The dinosaur's lips pursed. "..Well you'd know if you showed up at Mario's memorial."

"I did...incognito!" she sighed. "I could not sit through the entire thing."

"Point is, you missed what we all agreed on. Someone had to take the mantle of hero of your Kingdom, if you even still care."

Luigi opened the door and got out. "Of course she cares!"

The dinosaur leaned up from his back. "And where were you when all of your brothers best friends were bawling their eyes out this morning? Because I was there, same way I was for him as an infant!"

Luigi kept his head down and gently closed the car door. "You wouldn't get it," he eventually muttered, voice wavering. "You and everyone else has this idea of Mario as the most amazing guy in the world. The best thing next to the great stars above. Listen, _he was,_ but I have a different perspective being his brother, most importantly knowing him, how things was, before we started in the Mushroom Kingdom. Yeah you were there for us when Kamek started that baby campaign, but after that were were out of this world again and for the next decades our lives was nothing like here. There were ups and downs, and the downs just got to me this morning, alright? Look at me, I don't know what I'm freaking doing, only that I can't let Ludwig's next crazy scheme work. See that?" Luigi pointed at the machine, without realizing until then Yoshi uncovered it earlier. Luigi forgot his rant right then, because frozen in position he knew exactly what that thing was, he and everyone else.

Peach cupped her hands over her mouth. "W-why would they.. Why would they revive the _Timulator_?!"

…

After moping around in a rocking chair and feeling bad about himself in the cleared out lobby of the Southern Hospital, Jr. Troopa remembered he needed a menial task done and who was better than Vick. He dragged his feet to his secretary's hideout cautiously. Piranha Plant leaves weren't susceptible to spare nails haphazardly left on the shop floor, but his feet were. Seeing a Mecha-Yoshi's disembodied head in the middle of the shop made him almost wet himself. He clapped three times to light up the shop. The torso had the abdomen area busted open from the inside, colorful wires hanging out like spaghetti. Jr. Troopa made a mad dash to the computer chair, feet splashing in semi clear liquid.

"V-victor?!"

He yanked the chair around to face him. His buddy was slumped back into the seat with his green vine like neck half severed and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. His sap pooled on the floor, chair and desk. Next to the monitors was someone's rugged travel backpack. A note tacked on it stated in neat hand writing:

'_Didn't want it to weigh me down.. -The Captain.'_

…

"Guys. Something at six o' clock!" Yoshi dove down into the grass.

Approaching opposite of the bunkers leading to Toad Town were the entire catalog of Bowser baddies in military file, koopas, hammer bros, goombas, dry bones, boos, thwomps, and more with flowers in hand heading into the airship. Bowser's desk became covered with thorny native Dark Land. Peach hid in the doomship's secret closet and watched through the crack in the door.

Back outside, a different wave was approaching from Toad Town, all dressed a particular way. Having destroyed the Toad Town message board's servers since that morning, this group a few hundred members strong planned to raid Area 64 and uncover the truth. A Dark Land air cruiser parked before them confirmed their conspiracy theories to the point of starting a frenzy. Luigi used the uproar of the cult like group to take some action. Mind splitting into many directions, the options of destruction were endless so he kept it simple. He went for the cord.

"Don't do that Luigi Mario. Those lines aren't isolated and electricity hurts."

Luigi goofily reeled back into Ludwig, recovered, then huffed, "Where were you?"

The Koopaling had tucked under his arm a miniature plastic four stringed guitar with a sticker attached stating '4000 tickets'. His siblings had carnival bags with them with candies, Wendy held a stuffed dino rhino, and Junior a cotton candy tower, Lemmy a new ball. "Is there any question? Biding time until the Mario fanatics and the old Koopa Troop met in this location. It is the art of obfuscation, Luigi Mario. Where would we be without Larry's dazzling fireworks and shapes in the grass catching the attention of Toad Town?" Ludwig's eyes twinkled at Luigi's bewilderment. "Oooh, you didn't take the time to examine the more spectacular geometric entities a mile down? Like the N64 logo?"

"I busted my butt getting 'em right!" Larry remarked.

"They're beautiful," Luigi replied impatiently. "What else?"

"Iggy discovered how weak the infrastructure was in the city so with our manufactured spectacles combined with the major news of our beloved ones perishing, the onslaught of activity would make the web overload. Try to log on to the message boards. 404. No news of anything in town!"

"Nothing _was_ happening in town for real."

"Exactly. The perception of a lack of eventfulness ensured uneventfulness. With that lethargic state of townspeople, we worked unhindered for hours. Not even any reporters doing their 'snooping' thing."

Luigi's fists balled up against eight koopas. "Okay, you did your homework. You got this far, but now it ends." The plumber made the whole family gasp by flinging his boot against the machine. Clang! And a dent was created in the metal.

"Noooo, Luigi-sama don't!" Iggy flung himself in front of Luigi's toes and warped his body around his legs. Luigi had never seen the wacky genius so protective.

Iggy pointed to the flip counter on the Timulator with white digits on a black background. "The quartz crystals that keep up with the universal time zone will take three of us to last Friday May 17 2019. They are sensitive and expensive and took all my allowance! I had to forego preordering Death StreetPass!"

Luigi shook him off his toes. "So?" He went as Morton and Roy ignored him and together hauled a cramped looking capsule into place at Ludwig's direction. It was silver like a pod with a large glass front and connected to the Timulator's plug. Also they didn't get electrocuted, so Ludwig was lying and that ticked Luigi off most of all.

Luigi sharply swung back towards the others.

"Listen Luigi, straight up!" Larry said as if he read his mind. "I think it's dumb too. You don't screw with time. Let Dad lie- I mean.. rest up on vacation."

Lemmy kept frowning, digging his foot in the ground. "Well you're wrong, you'll see. I better strap myself in." he said very low, excusing himself.

Junior kept swinging his toy airship in the air, occupied with some imaginary bomb raid. "When will daddy get back from his vacation in the sky?" he asked suddenly.

Wendy and Larry flushed, their expression begging Luigi to not explain what really happen to their dad. He didn't. He wanted to defeat them but he wasn't a sadist. He'd need diplomacy to make progress happen but where were the Princess and Yoshi?

Inside the airship: Tanner was the last to leave his contribution on Bowser's desk, ice flowers from Sky Land. "This might seem like a weird place to do it, but Dark Land doesn't even feel like home anymore, the castle's gone anyway, and this is the family's personal airship. It just felt right, Princess Peach who I know is hiding back there. This place smells about right too."

Peach ignominiously stepped out.

"This was the FIRST airship built. Have respect, punk," Sentry 11 growled from out of sight.

Peach didn't know where the lakitu stowed himself nor wanted to. There was a disturbance outside. She peered through cloudy port window and felt her knees buckle- it was Mario! And Mario again... Myriads of effigies. Soon she was out the airship and in the groups screaming with the Bowser baddies at the Mario Fan Club. Fights were breaking out when strong hands carried her away from the commotion.

"Peach, there you are! But we need Yoshi. Yooooshi! Forget it. Come on!" Still in her dizzied state, he dragged her in time in time to see the glass hatch of the pod closed down. Iggy, Lemmy, and Ludwig were inside. Nary a comfortable looking fit, each had a zone to cover inside the Timulator pod. Lemmy's was the wheel, Iggy had a punch panel, and Ludwig had a florescent little radar screen. The others were farther away and low to the ground except for Junior.

"Ten, nine, uhhhhh what's next.." Bowser Junior counted down, hand hovering over a button.

"Oh goodness!" Peach sputtered.

Roy grunted. "Da things pretty safe I think. Nothing ta worry about lady."

Morton raised his hand. "Actually-" Roy's nostrils flared and the tan arm dropped. "-Never mind! Disregard! Pay no mind to me!"

"Three, eleven, twenty-four, one. Blast off!" Bowser Junior smacked a big red button. Timulator emitted a shrill zap noise and everyone smelt burnt grass. Ludwig nearly burst a vessel when saw that _someone_ (that wasn't him) missed the most obvious thing, to plug the darn capsule in.

"After I pass out from agony, keep off the throttle until someone tosses by body in the pod," the commander announced, connecting the two super-charged circuits.

"Stop right there!" Luigi ordered.

"Too late. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ludwig was zapped while plugging everything in. The Timulator v.2 roared to life so climatically that it finally attracted the attention of the Mario Fan club and the Koopa Troop. They stood and watched in awe then went back to fighting, the rivalry of the two groups almost matching those they worshiped. With so much power a swirling portal was ripped into the Earth. Luigi threw himself to the ground due to its magnitude. The pod's hatch was still open and Lemmy and Iggy stared into the abyss screaming. The koopalings on the side were the same, as was Luigi but Peach was silent. She glided towards the portal with a blank face.

"AAAAAHHHH SSOOOMMEEOOONNEE STOOOPPP HEERRRRR!" Ludwig warned.

Luigi's heart leaped into his throat seeing the portal hungrily devour the princess, snatch her right out of their world. He sprung into the pod with Lemmy and Iggy, taking Ludwig's spot.

"After her!"

"Luigi! Get out of that! Call everything off!" Yoshi announced from behind everyone. Captain Toad was just then at his side. Without his backpack, the toad made and acrobatic leap over the heads of all of the Koopalings and landed next to the pod, focused at-

"Ludwig. I want my phone back," Captain Toad requested kindly. He slung his pickaxe like a tomahawk.

Luigi only saw the shining object flash across his vision. Ludwig however got a perfect view. He tilted his neck down at the blade impaling his lower chest. Dark red blood dripped from the puncture to the ground. In all of his research he regretted not studying mortality and just how quickly it slipped away more in depth. As his claws grew numb and his skin colder, Ludwig hallucinated 'Vater' alive and proud standing beside him telling him to handle it how he would. How would Bowser do it? Like this. Ludwig misaligned of the two plugs to create a massive short on purpose. Thousands of decibels made Timulator go up in thick smoke as it ejected the pod into the portal. The gateway satisfied, it collapsed on itself and brought a little piece of reality with it.

Luigi, Lemmy, and Iggy's pod soared through the solar system for thousands of miles in a straight path. It collided with a dusty purple planetoid in a cube shape and then an orange planet the shape of a convex icosahedron. The wheel in Lemmy's hands broke loose and patch panels showered Iggy. Another larger impact made Luigi's face bang into the thick cathode tube of the radar. He blacked out. Lemmy tired anything to direct course away from the dark five pointed shape hanging in space. Not a normal astronomical object, it was completely blotted out, darker than blackness around it, and it points stretched out farther than they could observe. With flashing lights they felt a bang and then the cold of space!

…

Kylie Koopa slammed down the landline and sprung out of her cubicle. The 'curfew' should have been over by now and the news had to get out, her knowledge like a dam ready to burst but held back by the doors of the Mushroom Press being locked. She knocked vexingly on the glass while glaring at her boss on the other side on the sidewalk. He looked vacant and the pupils of his eyes had an unusual shape. "Steve, this ain't funny!"

With no response, her left eyelid twitched, as upset at him as she was herself. If she'd not foolishly listened Snifit Patrol and went home, promised nothing else exciting was going to happen that night, she would not have missed the arrival of the princess back into the Kingdom and the announcement of Mario passing. What a shock in her system. Could she remain unemotional enough to even write about it? Today was entirely different world where the Toad Town message boards were down and it felt like everyone including Steve was replaced with a look-a-like. She took a deep breath and went back to the paper press where she'd been filing away at the lock on the backdoor. Doing this on and off again her arm ached but she was jazzed when the heavy detached padlock finally fell into her lap. She pressed the door open quietly and checked the back lot of the press for anyone. She had a dupe key to Steve's old newscaster truck and sped off on empty streets to Peach's Castle.

"Nope. Left with the green one an hour ago," a contractor told her. Tall and homely under his hard hat, he was definitely not a sprightly castle toad. "The others before even that."

Kylie cranked the window all the way down. "You talking about her toads, brother? Think the message boards will be up soon?"

He shrugged. She tried Hotel Mario for the toads. The goomba at the counter after offering star quartz bracelets informed her that no toads were staying there. Gee whiz, she thought, she was a reporter and not a detective. Then she snapped her fingers. Shy Guy's toy box, or rather the unmarked house in East Toad Town containing the portal there was locked up. She heard the distant horn of K64 traveling on the train tracks and had to wait for it to pass to get to Pleasant Path. Nothing was going right! She raced to Mitch's condo.

"_Use my mat key," _he communicated.

Kylie kicked his mat over for it. Everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom need to stop being so predicable with that trick. It could lead to theft, she thought.

"-Something close enough. They tore the place up for info but didn't hurt me. Well, the pink boo wanted to, sick freak playing it off like it's an interrogation technique..."

Kylie felt her stomach flip. Her co-worker's home was rummaged and his nice things, odd trinkets collected from distant kingdoms, signed photos from celebrities, dining room set, and designer clothes were tossed around like a tornado. With some slight discoloration on his exposed skin hinting at a fight despite the story he'd just told, Mitch leaned against the back of his couch.

"Mitch. Gosh, brother.." she grimaced. "What else."

"And they took my wheelchair," he mumbled.

"Ablest little.. Let's go." Kylie swung the keys on her finger. "Oh snap. This means I have to carry around your sorry butt.."

…

'_Pinks, reds, blues, greens, and purples. See! There you go! Ho-ho-ho'_

_~No. NO! My call resonated already. Your antics only drag the inevitable, sweetheart..~_

_The dark and light cosmic entities warred again._

Luigi eyes snapped open. There were sparkles all around before blinked again, he was in a bed inside a strange one roomed cabin that smelt musty. He tossed off the covers to find the arm of a snoring person wrapped around his torso. He shrieked, sending Iggy out the bed with a thump on the wooden floors.

Lemmy barged through the door and buzzed about the room like he knew the place. "Okay. Okay. Focus. We missed our past selves so come on!" told them frantically.

Iggy hopped up and fixed his crooked glasses. "Yep, this is Zoo Diddley's house! There's the junk in the corner Luddy knocked you into. Hey, he didn't make it did he? Actually, I can't remember the last five minutes so it doesn't have to count! Bazinga!"

Luigi grabbed his arm before he slipped out. "The princess went through the portal! The princess!"

"Luigi.." She was outside the cabin against the side wall. It was pitch black in the Dark Land village but she was pure white with bruises on her arms and cuts into the dress. "Y-you s-saved.. w-why?" She slumped into Luigi, losing consciousness. Everything was then quiet as the 'twin' brothers left them behind.

On the mission, neither noticing at the moment that something had went wrong already, Lemmy lead Iggy through the woods on way to the incline and cliff's edge. They leaped through one more sticky bush to the other side where another set to brothers, an Iggy and a Lemmy were pining down Past Ludwig. Zoo Diddley was at the apex of the cliff on the brink of ringing the Doom Reverb bell. Almost exactly as they remembered last Friday night.

"Everyone STOP! We're from the future and have to keep Zoo from dying tonight!" Lemmy waved his arms and bounced around to their deceased custodian's attention. Stupefied, the dark boo let the bell slip and roll downhill and straight to Ludwig's clawing hands like drawn with a magnet.

Ludwig cradled the bell close to his chest, eyes gleaming in the night. The other Lemmy and Iggy spun around: Their eye sockets were hollowed out and black and their hair was stringy and washed out. The skin was extremely dry, fossilized, and riddled with micro cracks.

Lemmy gaped. "W-whats wrong with us?! Them! Whatever?!"

Instantaneously Iggy fired off his 'toy' gun with real laser action. Past Iggy had no reaction to the hole in his arm from that very real laser, dragging his feet towards their counterparts with Past Lemmy on his heels. The present versions backpedaled into the forest again, stumbling over vines and bushes. before Lemmy felt his shell smack the back of a tree.

"I should have completed my 'eyes in the back of your head' project," Iggy thought out loud. In the distant Ludwig was cackling but that was typical, less typical was murmurous doppelgangers closing in.

Lemmy took a big gulp. His mind raced, then he flicked with his fingers a little rock at Past Lemmy. This was actually a circus illusion he was working on, he would precisely aim at balloons to burst them 'miraculously' by just pointing. Pop! The rubber bouncy ball of the doppelganger burst, sending the monster falling face first. That made Iggy get tackled by 'Iggy' and unfortunately it was not the Iggy Lemmy wanted winning.

"MMK MK MMMMKK MKK!" Iggy said, being strangled by Past Iggy. The monster seized over him. More cracks rippled through his skin and the grip loosened. Iggy rolled away as the husk of Past Iggy and Lemmy broke down into a chunky mush of skin flakes and black goo.

"Gross!" Lemmy exclaimed.

"You're welcome!" Zoo Diddley sang, stopping his death ray as his smile twisted into maniacal smirk.

"Nooooo my subjects!" Ludwig caught up and dove down at the ugly puddle, scooping up some of the gooey whatever and letting it ooze between his scaly fingers.

"Triple gross!" Lemmy gagged a little.

Zoo decked Ludwig, knocking him out. "That fixes that, bro. Now it's your freakin' turn, because I quit and you won't tell me to do anything anymore and take my crap and make me get up for early shifts at-!"

"Hold position, soldier!" Lemmy commanded in his manliest voice.

As drilled into him, Zoo automatically paused while they bailed. Then he felt stupid. "Oh how the heck did I fall for that?!" The dark boo stalked them, anything their height like bushes with green top resembling their hair mixing him up and slowing him down with his low vision. He shot his death ray at who he thought was them but wasn't . _Ooh, satisfying none the less_.

The Anti-Monarchy member's eyes rolled back and he collapsed as part of his brain drizzled out of his nose. His brethren didn't notice. "Down with monarchies!" they chanted, exhilarated by their activism. The goombas, koopas, monty moles, buzzy beetles and other Dark Land were dispersed in the forest as they'd been heading to Bowser's Castle before commotion, a strange thunder in the sky even though it was clear, brought them there instead.

Meanwhile, Luigi sat with his back against the wall of Zoo's home, hugging himself in the cold of the night. He shivered feeling very hurt, physically and emotionally. "Why would you ask that? Why would I not follow you here?"

Peach inched closer so that their shoulder's brushed. "Because... I suppose a part of me thought I could fix something. I know that's foolish and we're likely to just make things worse meddling with the past. That's why Mario damaged the Timulator beyond repair. -We thought."

"Peach, you don't need an excuse for that part. I would have followed you no matter what. I don't care what your toad brats- excuse my language- think about you. This isn't about duty," he stressed, voice breaking. "I meant why did you think I wanted to throw you away? I don't have much anymore, don't make me lose you too!"

"I'm sorry." She reached up to cover her face when his hands stopped her gingerly.

"Peach, listen. If you weren't the kind, loyal kind of friend worth risking it for, I would have never saved you now. I would have never saved you the _first_ time from that fortress way back. Get it?"

"Yes. Yes! I remember almost like yesterday when we first met. There was a shooting star in the sky." She rose her head. "Like that one!"

One star in the sky was brighter than the rest, twinkling purple. The longer they stared the more they could hear a faint whisper.

"_Over here! Ho-ho-ho.." _the star told them inwardly, like the voice came from inside them. _"Get away. Get away!"_

Then something fell out of a tree a few houses down, followed by the unmistakable sound of something expensive shattering.

"-GOSH DANG RAVEN!" Luigi and Peach's attention was torn that way. A young boomerang bro and other young ones were arguing. "WE TOTALLY COULD HAVE TOOK PICTURES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND MADE PROPAGANDA OR SOMETHING FROM THAT!"

The Timulator pod, bashed up from impact, was surrounded by the mob just in time for Lemmy and Iggy to return from the forest. They diverted to Zoo's home where Luigi and Peach was and together, wordlessly everyone began to ran from that mob down a split path from the village lead two directions, 'Dead end' the other 'Neo Bowser City'…

It was a raining more heavily in the heart of Neo Bowser City during the inauguration of the new mayor at Bowser Stadium, a grand stone coliseum surrounded by a lava pool in classic Badland tradition. These occurred at night to prevent mobs, but it didn't work this time. A stout koopa troopa with a leisure suit on that dragged the ground had a scantily clad pom pom in a bright pink top and short shorts, his 'assistant', clutching his shoulder for photos. A couple were snapped, audience mostly dispersing from the deteriorating weather. Mayor Koton was in the office for many years, exalted by Kamek so long ago that the magikoopa had likely forgotten. Spending the first half of his life thwimp #75 in Morton's castle and the other as the Mayor in high rises and court houses gave him a unique, he felt, perspective. He handed over the key to the city with his invisible arms.

"It was an honor to but now the time has come to pass the baton. Soo… Have fun," Mayor Koton said laconically. He saw the young new guy's future already. He was going to either die or become _literally_ Bowser.

Koton hopped away into the crowd of older conservative Dark Land residents that were steadily being replaced with a new set of onlookers, decidedly younger residents who eyed the authority figures closely for the correct buzz words. One got too close-

"Get outta here," the new major snapped. The new mayor's assistant smacked the protester with a huge gaudy 'Douchiy and Cabana' purse and he was sent back into the crowd. "Alight, folks." The new mayor tapped the microphone which squealed. His voice, despite appearance was boomy. "We have enough problems in town so cause any more." The 'speech' was not eloquent, filled with grievances about how the cops stopped him too much coming from night clubs and that speed limits were dumb, as the New Mayor was not a politician, but a guy rich enough to bribe Koton out. He concluded, "And you don't like it. I'll just complain to King Bowser!" He watched the sudden change of faces from the crowd.

"DOWN WITH THE MONARCHIES!" they roared.

The new major backed away from the angry mob with his girl. They sprinted out of the stadium and into the streets where the black limousine waited. They drove off down Neo Bowser City's traitorous and damp highways. New Mayor headed southbound to tattle, obviously to Bowser, but anyone above him would do, like two of Dark Land's princes running down the street. He told the driver to pull over and let them in.

"Thank you thank you thank you tell your dad we're running from these weird lunatics with megaphones this is my first day you gotta help me!" New Mayor cried out the open car door.

Lemmy climbed in, followed by Iggy, Luigi, and Peach. "We're running from bad guys too!" The limo took off again with an unwilling jerk. "But- do I know you?"

"I'm the new mayor!" New Mayor told him. He smiled friendly but it rung no bells to Lemmy.

"Never mind, I guess I didn't pay attention to polities in the past week. Now that we have time to talk, kind of, our mission is sorta complete!" Lemmy beamed. "Zoo didn't die tonight so the dark star should not be born or whatever. Too bad we didn't get his bell though."

"What?" Luigi protested. "I wished I could have followed you all and gave Zoo the 'ol plumber whack." He chopped in the air for effect.

Peach eased a little more into the quilted plush seating. "As long as we make it back to our you-know-what (timeline) safely again."

Iggy continually wound up the Wacky Watch, his back against the mini bar. "Err… right! He he.."

Peach listened to some familiar squeaks from the vehicle bouncing around a steep hill. A realization burst upon her, it was the exact limo Larry tried to rescue her with in Sky Land. The last thing she wanted to fathom was the time paradox they were tethering on.

"-This thing is bullet proof right?" New Mayor pat the sweat off his forehead.

Lemmy wondered where they were going because it wasn't route to Bowser's Castle anymore. The car began to get banged around by rough terrain. He pulled back the shutters into the driver's cab and tapped the glass. "Driver?"

"EVERYTHING IS GOING AS PLANNED SIR!" The Boom-Boom turned to the side with a crooked smile. His pupils were an irregular starry shape.

Lemmy whipped around. "Everyone jump out!"

Luigi leap up and bang his head on the car's ceiling. "What?"

Lemmy pushed him and Peach out with Iggy hurling himself behind them. Faces planted against dirt and grass as they rolled around. Lemmy recovered just in time to see the limo careen off the same cliff they chased Zoo Diddley up. Five seconds later the heard the crash against the brambles. A little bit of smoke rose and lingered in the air just atop the hill.

Luigi recognized what had just almost happened and kneeled down, throwing up.

"That's too early lose all of your fluids bro, but thanks for dropping back in my neighborhood." Creeping up on them, Zoo licked his lips sadistically.

…

A Channel 64 news truck screeched to a stop at the bus stop where a person waited. Kylie recognized them as Boo and let them in, reminding them that the buses weren't running. It was great to see familiar faces but they were no closer to Peach.

"Town hall." Mitch muttered spontaneously. He was deep in his own thoughts but also bit of others, and someone was feeling vindictive as they sat in the back set anxiously gripping that green Bowser tennis racket..

The City hall in Toad Town Square was underdeveloped, understandably when Peach Castle was always around until now. Strange sibilance drew Kylie out of the car alone into the open court. It had a defunct fountain in the middle and elevated platforms left, right, and forward of that point. There dozens of toads, more specifically the amount of toads Peach had employed, on the raised portion forming a loose circle. Some were bowed with their heads lowered like a prayer circle others sitting around in despair. Kylie then backed up, feeling it was too insensitive even for her to just drop in and start prying for answers.

"Join if you want." Toad stepped from around a hedge, his usual luster gone.

"Brother, I'll be brief. I know it's a.. bad time. Why did you abandon the princess at the castle?"

"Long story. Toadsworth had a dream that the castle was going to get screwed up again, homegirl, like really bad. We believed him. We're both Mushroom Gen X here so you remember the early days, just him Peach and the King in that place. If Toadsworth thinks somethings gonna happen.."

Kylie's heart sunk. "I get you brother, but.. the princess missing."

Toad became white as a sheet. He whipped around to check quickly if Toadette and some others noticed where he was. "Got room for me?"

Through Toad Town Kylie and the crew searched again, eventually heading south where they were stopped by hay bales in the road too high to plow through. They'd have to go on foot, which for Mitch meant staying put in the car.

"It's fine, dudes." He lied.

Kylie, Toad, and Boo entered the fields of Area 64 where the sky was foggy and everything was very quiet.

"Keep up, peeps. If we make it to the other side, Jr. Troopa will hook us up with some answers for sure." She pouted at Boo and Toad trailing slowly. "I said, keep up!"

They walked in silence.

"Help! Assist please! Aid me!" called a voice in the distance.

"Where am I?"

"Help!"

"HEALLLP!" and on started suddenly, from places they could not see through the mist. Something was zapped and the air became warm. Lightning had just struck somewhere close enough to raise all of their hair.

Kylie's bravery was bulldozered over and she fled with Toad, sending a mental message for Mitch to pick up. Know each other so well for so long, they had that trick down pack.

Back in Toad Town, Mitch slid over to the drivers seat when he remembered. His legs didn't work! He sent that mental message back to Kylie. Back in the mist Kylie took a short breather with Toad. They'd lost their bearings. _Actually_ Kylie was convinced the area around them decided to change. A winding path here now curved there, a curve there was now a bend here. Never trust Area 64. She checked her back. They'd lost Boo too!

Or so they thought. Boo branched off, seeing just fine in the fog. Mario impersonators and Koopa Troop members wandered until they were either hit by a force of lighting in the atmosphere choosing at random or hunted down by someone with a blunt object. Boo discovered a crater in the ground and the remains of a doomship. That got them worried, more so seeing The Captain walking over to a corpse. The toad dug into the blood-stained blazer of the koopaling and retrieved his phone, wiping it off on his shirt to unlock it.

"~THANK YOU~" The message on his phone said.

A tear fell on his screen, his own.

"Keep crying, punk," growled Boo as Booigi the Second. They forcibly turned Captain Toad around to face him.

"Good sir, these are tears of joy." Captain Toad replied civilly. There was something wrong with his beady little eyes…

* * *

**To be cont.**

Author note: This chapter might seem rough around the edges. My bad!

Older version of this chapter created: 8/29/19, 8/30, 9/2, 9/4, 9/8, 9/10, 9/11, 9/12, 9/13, 9/15, 9/16, 9/17, 9/18, 9/22, 9/23

Modern around: 12/1, 12/2, 12/3, 12/4, 12/5, 12/6, 12/7, 12/8, 12/9, 12/10, 12/11

Edit: 4/30/20, 5/1


	20. Luigi's Awesomely Ambivalent Allegory 2

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever Redux**

**Luigi's Awesomely Ambivalent Allegory, part 2 (Chapter 19)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: *Newly edited* Time travel is always ****popping open**** a can of worms, so let's have some fun with it!**

…

In Sarasaland merchants and civilians of all social status busily took to the streets trading and purchasing to make up time lost during yesterday's wave of storms. (The purchase of of stress relieving balls sky rocketed.) Princess Daisy pulled a warm coat on, her private jet surprisingly chilly. General Ming informed her there was an emergency happening at home. She feared independently funded researchers wanted to uncover some ancient untamed part of Sarasaland and disturb the peace. Equally dreadful, their fine printed licensing agreements gave her a headache. She hoped her friends would understand considering she had no opportunity to inform anyone. To them it would be like she just vanished. A gloomy part of her reasoned 'as if they'd notice!' No time for pessimism, the brunette had a mission. The last castle visitor she took lightly of course brainwashed everyone in her household and unearthed the Dark Star!

The first thing Daisy noticed was that her castle's empty visiting room wasn't empty. A middle aged toad woman was stationed at a desk where there was a phone and files laying around.

"You were the gal on the phone! You know that thing almost hurt someone when it melted to heck!"

Nass T.'s block of papers slipped from her neatly trimmed fingers. "Oh my! By the way, your secretary said code#7."

Daisy sighed, annoyed. She never needed a receptionist. (Granted no one ever called her either except Luigi.) With no time to fix that now she obeyed the code, meaning to meet at Chai's weapon bunker.

In the underground basement sized room, green vector screens displaying topography of the land spanned the length of the wall. Ming wore a neck cast but rushed to Daisy anyway before she was off the ladder down. Every calamitous switch was active from yesterday which Daisy was able to deactivate briskly.

"Think I missed anything?"

Ming nodded. "The one already in the air!"

Daisy whipped back at the screens, pressing her face against the glass at the blip she'd missed, a missile over the area of Birabuto. She gripped the control wheel to direct the radar. "Uh- uh- I'll just land it in the ocean- Oh Gods!" The slightest lean made the flying explosive dip down and almost level a heavily populated village completely. A bead of sweat rolled off her forehead. "Just a little touchy! Get me a chair!" she screamed. "This might take a moment!"

…

It was plumber's instinct, a visceral feeling the danger wasn't over that let Luigi know they weren't done with Zoo. He charged forward and pressed the dark boo's arms down.

"Freakin' dweeb!" Zoo glared, his eye twitched, and Luigi's chest tightened and the strength was drained out of him.

Iggy suddenly took his place holding Zoo. "Halt, Diddley-san! According to our abandonment rule, you are still employed by Bowser until tomorrow at 12 pm so I order you to give us the bell!"

Zoo half smiled. "Nice try but I don't care, bro. Remember YOU and Lemmy just tried to kill me over it. Bowser got a rule on that?"

"But you're traveling around with THE Dark Star! We've totally just had this super huge and epic adventure over it in the future like the character Bell in Koopa Ball Z when the Super Plumbers were fighting a villain hidden among them the entire time disguised as Goomba-chan's bottle of foot ointment!"

With a look of 'which one of us is supposed to be the lunatic' Zoo smacked Iggy in the jaw so that he could get up finally, fingers tingling in anticipation.

"Forget dad's rules, you don't work for us if that makes you happy okay?" Lemmy sputtered. "You saw that there were two versions of us before. We're trying to keep you from dying for the future's sake. I promise!"

Zoo's eyes narrowed. "Riiiiight. More like keep me alive 'cause how else you gonna steal THE ONLY THING THAT'S EVER CAME BACK TO ME!"

Lemmy couldn't even scream as he collapsed. The circus performer curled up, tortured from head to toe by the death ray splitting his molecules.

The princess jumped forward. "Zoo! Read my mind!" In her panic she remembered a requisite of special objects, a venture but astoundingly a hit:

To Zoo squiggly words formed above Peach's head, half invisible and fading in and out.

"W E A RE _FR OM T HE FU T __U__RE._"

If not boo he would have been swept off of his feet. The twenty-two year old's face knotted up as his world shattered. The bell, Zoo's gift from Lou Diddley his father, that happened to be burglarized over a decade ago, the one that miraculously reappeared under his pillow two weeks ago, the one he'd abused too much the previous day due to circumstances he didn't ask for, the one that encouraged his inveterate trouble making with faint chants and whispers, the one that was now 'fed up' with him as the owner-

While Zoo swayed Iggy's Ultra Hand (licensed by Nintendo) seized the Doom Reverb. Everyone ran for their lives into the forest while a sparkling orange flare soared over the trees signaling the Anti-Monarchy group. Their members wandered about with flashlights in the dense vegetation. Iggy, split from others, caught an eerie sensation of being watched- like that time Ludwig had put a key logger on his gaming PC. The tall koopaling continued trampling around and ducking under low branches until a vine tripped him up. He rolled on to his back in time to witness an object float towards him.

"I still want it back. I won't do nothing bad, alright? Please. PLEASE," the voice whimpered. Zoo crept a little closer, revealing his twitchy face.

Iggy shook his head and brought the bell closer. "Noooo!"

"Fine then! Game over, bro!" Zoo charged for him when there was a popping noise. The dark boo jolted and bringing his stubby arm closer he saw the tip, his 'fingers' blown clean off. He screamed.

"This way Iggy! As we know Wendy's colleges The Anti-Monarchy Adolescent Faction and I state their ridiculous full name to disgrace them further, would never find this passageway with their lack of experience outdoors and away from internet." Ludwig scooped his brother up and to his feet, slinging him around over rocks and plants and thick tree trunks with an orange zapper holstered on his hip. They arrived at the lip of a metal hatch behind an old stump. A ladder lead down to an iron tube with blue lights that traveled forward a few paces then made a turn into the unknown. They stood at the bottom and caught their breath.

"I am not prone to mental lapses, but all I remember is us attempting to find Zoo's place of residence," Ludwig continued. "And now here we are being chased by internet mobs. Whatever has the world come to?"

Iggy couldn't answer, feeling faint. Glancing at Past Ludwig in the light made an eidetic image flash in his mind. He witnessed the glint of a pickaxe spinning and impaling his brother before they time traveled!

"What?" Ludwig shook him out of it, making the Nintendo toy and the bell inch slightly out of Iggy's pocket. A familiar crazed look stretched across Ludwig's visage. "Iggy, I command you to have that over!"

Iggy dodged from his grasp. "How about totally not? It's too much to explain Luddy-sama!"

He fled deeper down the metal tube as a bad stench, even for someone who forgot to shower often, struck his nostrils. Water climbed up to his knees and after another bend there was a metal grate. Holding his breath, the eighteen year old skillfully used his multi-tool to pop it off and get out of the sewers into a square area with thin ventilation slits carved in stone walls. He was then in Bowser Castle, Dark Land's most famous pimple on the landscape. He flicked through somber red carpeted hallways like a beached cheep-cheep and paused in a four way junction before going to the front door. The castle had an intercom Ludwig once used it (irritatingly to most) to arrange family meetings but since everyone, even mooks with no hands or fingers, had a cellphone in present times it was now covered in cobwebs. On that note, Iggy texted Lemmy where ever he was to come to the front of the castle; it was a good thing he'd charged it in the airship.

"Everyone up up up! Fire! Pizza delivery! Koopa-Scouts cookies! Mario is around here! Bowser's giving you a raise!" the intercom blared.

The castle floors rumbled. Before Iggy could move a muscle the sea of koopas, and goombas, dry bones, hammer bros, and other baddies in pajamas swallowed him rushing to the designated meeting spot outside and carping about whatever they understood. Once the dust cleared Iggy found himself butt on the carpet with a sprang ankle. He wished he'd thought that through a little more as someone in a blazer was strolling towards him.

"Oh, this sucks!" Iggy groaned.

Outside: The 'Anti-Ma' gang pursued of Luigi, Peach, and Lemmy out of the forest into the waste land that constituted Bowser's front yard and the lone road called Dark Drive. The grumbling Koopa Troop was waiting for them.

"Babe, let's get out of here!" The boomerang bro in a trilby begged Raven, the goth like Goomba girl beside him. The Anti-Ma were intimidated by the numbers and backed away. Bested, some Koopa Troop members even chased them off.

The Koopa King, red spotted sleeping cap bouncing around with each stomp, broke off from his minions alone. His family for the most part were still tucked in bed due to disabling the intercom in their bedrooms ages ago. He'd be with them if Kamek, half naked, hadn't banged his door down. "What the heck was that about, why was Wendy's brat college friends here, why is Green Mario here, Kamek why don't you have pants, and why are there two Peaches?!"

Peach gasped catching sight of the blonde in the crowd obscured by a whomp. The minion waddled aside to reveal a husk in a pink frilly dress matching the Princess's normal attire. The monster's face hosting an insidious smirk, long claws unsheathed through its white gloves. 'Peach' sprung over the heads of a dozen Koopa Troop forcing the real Peach to throw herself down and scuff up her elbows, missing the attack by a hair. Before Luigi could react, it was Bowser who apprehended Past Peach in his claws. The monster flailed its equally razor sharp claws, scratching deeply into Bowser's thick scales. With a growl he slung the monster ten meters away and blasted super heated fire in that direction. All that was left was a burning fabric of the dress and chunky black and flammable ooze.

Bowser panted for a moment before glancing over his shoulder at the wide eyed onlookers. "Erm.. who thinks we're still dreaming?"

All of his soldiers rose their hands, trickling back inside the castle.

Kamek turned to Bowser. "Lord Bowser, the reality is that the real princess was already outside the castle!"

Bowser snapped awake again. "Hey that's right! Grrrrrr!"

"King Dad! We- well- he- she..." Lemmy gave up trying to explain and just hugged his father, coincidentally making him miss what was happening while Bowser soldiers retreat in the castle. Ludwig and Iggy were fighting over the Doom Reverb on the downed draw bridge. Ludwig held wooden handle and Iggy the bronze and yellow bell in a back and forth tug-o-war fashion.

"Iggy, I only want to research its acoustic properties!" Ludwig dragged Iggy around and around, eventually to the edge with the chasm of the emptied moat below.

"Luddy! Physics!" Iggy screeched, hanging down and it was a long way.

_Ding...ding..ding.._

Whooosh! An image of a dark star half the size of Bowser castle materialized in the night sky. A surge of wind clashed about from all directions and doors were blown off their hinges as Luigi and crew were swept off their feet.

"...HA! MORTALS, YOU WERE ALWAYS DOOMED TO REPEAT YOUR MISTAKES!"

Another heavenly voice, the now hidden twinkling purple star countered, "_G__et__ up_!"

Luigi and Peach roused on jagged scorched rock, the bottom of Bowser Castle's moat, too in shock to notice any sustained injuries at the moment. There was a huge debris wall before them. Above dust and dirt steadily sprinkled above to slowly bury them alive. Their thoughts synchronized. What would Mario tell them if he could? 'Luigi, don't stand there. Use the hammer on your tool belt!' 'Peach, don't be afraid to get your dress dirty. It's machine-washable for a reason.' 'How do I manage a kart race, a Mario Party, a baseball game, a picnic with the princess, and a scheduled toilet repair at Russ T.'s place? You prioritize, Luigi!'

Very close on the other side was Lemmy and Iggy. "Lemmy.. I totally tried but, help me out. -Oww." Iggy opened his palm holding the wacky watch with a cracked crystal.

"It's not over yet," Lemmy said, his life the improbable situation he'd learn about in government classes: If this person died, then this person died, the baton would be in THIS person's hand. He was that person. It was up to him.

Ludwig then revealed himself from the shadows with a limp in his step yet his face was brilliant and his eyes piercing. "Truer words have never been spoken, not even by great old scholars such as Goomelda the 'wisest of female goombas'. Now whatever is going on, you failed because everything already in motion with the momentum of a bullet bill at mach speed. The forces above are strong, more so than five thousand Bowser bombs. You must think ahead of it. Think, Lemmy. What started it? Was it really the bell ringing on this date or-"

Lemmy paused. "Your scheme that included Zoo in the first place?"

"Exactly. My copy of Dr. Mario's notes was the impetus of it all. Go back thirteen days early morning at this location and prevent that!_"_

Something dawned on Lemmy. "How did you know we time traveled? Then, you need to know-"

Ludwig hooked his arm around him, shushing him. "If you are about to reveal something mortifying, you should not. I do not wish to hear that I will never complete my backlog of Koopa Troopa projects, make any more music, or eventually build in castle in Austria. I wish to not hear it! Besides! Look at me, Lemmy. It will not matter, because you will succeed!"

Then the debris wall crumbled revealing Luigi and Peach, the princess even took the lead plowing through the dirt pile to reach the koopa's voices.

"What are we waiting for?" Luigi fussed. Above the dark star wailed, quaking the ground to make the largest object yet fall. A koopa tank was about to tumble down into the moat on top of them. It was time to use the watch Lemmy knew, granted it was nothing like the kind he tended to scribble on his wrist. A second away from being crushed, the there was shrill springing noise and the world went white.

…

'_I want tuna for today, I want a sandwich too, __so let me get a loaf of bread and send off another message. __Now I've__ 'enjoyed' the Koopa delicacy of toe fungus and peanut butter but it tastes like.. (unintelligible).. even to me. Least I can scrape the peanut butter off and it is not too bad for this grizzled man who once spent months in a remote Shy Guy village. Not bad at all, my taste has been burnt out many stale coconuts ago. I wonder how my nephews are doing at three month about now. They are not in this world I must remind myself, but I have a hunch, call me crazy, __a __left over from my yellow fever delirium, but I am sure they will get to know what a wonderful land this is in the future. Maybe then it won't be so hard to make ends meet. Oh, let me count what I have again. __Last week's pay only fifty coins, but this is the recession. __Ah, I'm realizing this is the last page of my notebook and yet I'm still w__asting__ space now! Okay for the record:__ Items used for Megavitamin X: Sulfate, __salicylate, and koopa scute_.'

The thin book with a worn spine and cream colored pages was gently closed. Ludwig yawned, ending his cozy marathon of reading while the stars twinkled in his big recliner like chair in the corner of his bedroom. It took twenty pages to get there, but he had much patience and time with Mario's stream of activities keeping everyone in a buzz. On May 17 2019, a week and a half away, there would be a tennis match according to Mario's Facebook wall. (Ludwig hated that he had to login to glean such info. He estimated that very scrupulous and detestable corporation was already selling his personal info by now.)

He stretched his arms and legs and brushed the bethmännchen crumbs from his lap, aware of the urgency that would be needed to qualify for his coveted Mega-Villain Badge. His scheme was on!… After a bathroom break. Just as the toilet set lid was raised he was startled by a bang muffled by thick stone walls. He darted to his bedroom window facing front. The moat being temporarily drained of lava and shrouding the castle in darkness encouraged much mischief with residents of the castle coming and going from Neo Bowser City. Grumbling he wondered if another drunk dry bones had ran their koopa tanks down the trench again as he marched downstairs. Halfway there he was knocked down, his snout in pain.

"_S__o ein Mist_!" Ludwig glared, leaning up again. "Lemmy, I never thought you would resort to the escapades as Larry and Roy and Morton and even Wendy that one time Milli Vanilli had a concert!"

Lemmy grabbed Ludwig by the slightly too snug fitting red robe. "Where the heck are your notes?"

"...Say again?" The military commander did a double take as he witnessed two humans, a woman with a man close behind strutting up the steps past his head.

"Come on, Iggy!" For the first time ever, Lemmy and Iggy bested their eldest brother physically from sheer willpower. They forced him back up to his room where Luigi and Peach was, Ludwig only then identifying the pair in plain clothes. They already had the notebook he'd left on his study desk, Dr. Mario's archived notebook.

"This is it!" It trembled in Luigi's hands. The last page was exactly what he skimmed over in Giant Land yesterday, or in the future rather. At the pinnacle of his journey, what would he do to rid this? His eyes wandered around Ludwig's neat room, the impressive trophy wall, around the piano in the corner, around the excessive dozen of yearly calendars with many dates marked, around the bed that hadn't been touched all night, and finally the open bathroom door...

"Ahh! Luigi Mario, please!" Ludwig plead desperately. "I only found that in the castle's oldest most water logged treasury chest! It was seconds away from being recycled!"

The plumber dunked the entire notebook down the toilet, which was golden even, with extreme prejudice, thus ending _Luigi's awesomely ambivalent allegory_. The lesson learned? Always do spring cleaning. Or something.

Peach shrieked in excitement. "Thank the stars!"

"Curses!" Ludwig glared at his brothers. "You are 'trusted adjutants' no more!"

Lemmy couldn't help but to grin stupidly at the irony. "Fair enough."

Everyone froze when they heard heavy shuffling feet outdoors. The commotion had gotten someone up and it was time to scatter. What Ludwig saw next he'd never forget as the four others warped, vanished, from his room with technology he didn't think probable. First Ludwig lay in bed wondering if the entire episode was a trick of sleep deprivation, but the bruise on the back and front of his head was real. With that the genius had a new plan.

...

Mankind always marveled at shooting stars but few stopped to consider what it was like for them traveling through space and sweeping across the galaxy in a most crude, uncomfortable, and relatively sluggish pace. Geno's top speed might have been up to 160,000 mph, but the spaceship he used to have could topple that record in seconds. He saw ahead among asteroids and planets a coliseum enclosed by the silver gem like pillars of millennia and suspended in the middle of space by a sapphire platform. One of the sparkly entrance doors was ajar. The star warrior's civic duty too deeply entrenched to shake, he had to make sure something wasn't wrong. After the Star Temple, this was the second most important location around. A holographic scroll on the door stated in bold font: '_The galaxy courthouse is closed at this moment. Thanketh thee_.'

Lengthy hallways warmly lit by the translucent stones that made them lead to the courtroom where sessions occurred. With capacity of hundreds of star beings it seemed even more enormous with rows of seats scrolling upwards unoccupied. Geno froze as an odd jingle chimed behind the judges platform. He pulled someone's new looking iPhone hidden in a drawer.

"Thank you (heart musicnote)!?, you found it!" Rosalina the space queen emerged from a backroom. "Of course it would be I with so many matters on my mind receiving a well intentioned gift from my children and losing it right away." The graceful princess met him sheepishly. Geno was struck however by her excellent appearance, long beautiful hair, dazzlingly vibrant blue clothing and mature beauty.

He tore his gaze away. "Miss Rosalina, glad to help and all but I gotta take flight right now. A dark star was doing something to Earth and Great Eld's wont pick kup."

The platinum blonde flushed, bringing her decisive eyebrows downwards. "May I?" Her hand wrapped around the star warrior's, making his heart race. She revealed in her other hand that she had a star rod.

Geno found himself hanging on when Rosalina's Space Observatory soared to Star Temple. With her lumas all at school she had no discipline to lay off of full throttle and they were there in less than five minutes. Star Temple was another suspended in space structure, a golden colored mansion of humble size considering it contained the greatest star of all and his family of Star Guardians and associates.

Geno and Rosalina crossed the moat over sparkling blue liquid, likely not water exactly, to the front doors. It was bolted shut but from the outside uncharacteristically. Rosalina blasted the entire mechanism apart with her star rod and they were in. Now their steps echoed on golden tiled floors. Dust was everywhere as if cleaning hadn't commenced for some time. The abandoned aura made Geno's stomach sink in human terms at least as Rosalina overtook him. There were countless rooms to consider. Geno rushed inside of one and came out of a door on the opposite side of the hall.

Rosalina paused, her delicate hand resting on her chin. "(Heart musicnote)!?, let us not drive ourselves mad yet. Do you hear that?"

Geno trained his ear to the left. Some movie was playing. He tracked it down like a chomp hot on the sent of steak to the room at the farthest reaches. They burst into a den entertainment area and was blinded by a bright wide screen TV, stale air and sent of mildly burned popcorn assaulting as well. Kalmar, Klevar, Misstar, Muskular, Skolar, Mamar, and lastly Eldstar were seated vacantly watching the scene on TV were an unfunny actor was saving the world from bad pop culture references.

Geno spun around Eldstar, closest to the screen seated in an office like swivel hair. He was unresponsive like a dummy. All the while Geno felt his head spin and he wasn't sure why.

"This is giving me a headache!" Rosalina covered her ears. Inept at electronics she could only unplug the TV making the room go pitch black. Geno realized whatever almost inebriated him was caused by the television set.

Eldstar's eyes flickered and the dry throat of him and others created a chorus of coughing and barking from the stars. "(Heart musicnote)!? and Miss Rosey? Oh-Whatever happened? I am usually a bit stiff but-"

"What was wrong with your TV?"

"I got a message on my pager for a free cable package. The Y/N thing? I replied 'yes' as I always do."

Klevar cleared his throat and requested to see that pager, he the only one around with an inkling of computer savviness. "This is an old message," the brainy star explained. "How long have we been here?"

Skolar noticed this that his normal brown pencil moustache was a bush on his face. "Judging by the hair that flutters and dances across my lip as I speak, it has been a fortnight at the minimum."

"We have been watching TV for that long?" They all panicked. The sender of the message was Zachary A. Ztar, also known as Eldstar's rival the Dark Ztar himself.

Geno gasped. "He's attacking the Earth using some other star I encountered earlier!"

Eldstar hopped up which made a loud crack. He ignored it. "But it can not possibly be so! Why, I just spoke to him."

"Why ever would you communicate like that?" Rosalina wondered out loud. The other stars gave her a sympathetic look to suggest that the reasoning why was beyond them all, possibly literally.

Eldstar dialed a number on a rotary phone. He waited tapping a foot. In another realm where the ground was cracked and purple and jagged obsidian spires rose from the ground there was an onyx temple surrounded by a tall thorny fence. Seated on a couch before a larger screen TV was a black colored star with a goatee and monocle sipping tea. When the phone rung he nearly spit it on his lap. "Bloody fool. Who could this be?"

"Zach? Ah how is my cousin?"

"You?" the star sneered. "I go by 'Dark Ztar' now. What do you want?" The dark star, the other _dark star_ rather, listened for a while before he features darkened even more so. Now he was infuriated. Season 90 of _Noki's Island _was set to 'pause'.

...

Mitch crawling around the block and making his palms and knee caps raw paid off. Steve the bullet bill's old van crossed the mist into Area 64, a broom handle the toad procured taking place of his legs to reach the pedals. It wasn't easy, the person responsible for the blockade doing a good job, jut the toad wanted in bad enough and he got it. At the cost of banging up the muffler. Oh well. He could hardly see, more so as his eyes clouded. A daze came over him as something about reality changing in that moment.

"Waaaahh!" Bowser Junior flopped on the windshield. "Th-the machine- Kaboom! And and h-he and she- and- and-!"

"Ahhhhh!…. Dude hop in!" Mitch stopped and pushed the door open.

"Help me find my brothers and sister! I left my teleporter at home!" the six year old whined.

"Before Bowser Castle was destroyed by the storm Saturday?"

Junior shook his head rapidly. "No no no. The castles okay, I left my Switch on Mario Odyssey this morning! I never cut my games or my TV off. Ever ever ever."

Mitch gave him an odd look. First the talk of the teleporter, which he assumed was made up, now this child was denying that Bowser's Castle was ever destroyed? He wondered if any of the craziness related to the machine in Area 64 he knew the koopas were in possession of, also the reason Super Spy HQ fruitlessly burst into his home. (And where were they? Talk about an organization that claimed to have their toes dipped in everything.)

"This looks like another one though." Junior poked at something jammed under the van's old cassette deck in place of what used to be the CD player. The face of it looked like a spectrum analyzer with two mismatched knobs on the outer sides. A lime green note, a specific style Mitch always used in his office stated in his own always somewhat downhill yet in excellent cursive handwriting:

'_Steve, hit the right, set the distance, remember to check if something's in the way- __please please, __then hit the left_. _It's a prototype and I haven't finished my article next. Don't break it and don't give it to Kylie for her article first. -Thanks, dude._'

Mitch stared at the note like it was the Underchomp ready to drag him to Hades. The teleporter wasn't there when he entered Area 64, he was sure. He was broken out of his stupor by several of blood curdling screams from outside as a bolt struck the ground. The mist agitated and left behind only one body, a heap of smoking armor on a spot scorched into the grass. Junior abandoned the vehicle impulsively.

"Oh no! Mr. Tanner was cool, we'd play games sometime. He got 'pro-mo-ted' Koopatrol because my pet chain-chomp knocked him off the top of a fortress once and he didn't die!" Junior's childish hand retracted when his armor was hot as a stove stop, the notion that death was permanent yet to settle in fully.

"I know I ain't your pappy, but get your butt back over here!" Mitch hissed. "Now, explain this, uh 'teleporter'."

"I dunno Mister. Ours looks different. Luddy's is blue, not black and it has a red button. It does have that wavy thing though. I'm not allowed to touch it but it made someone go ZOOM! Really really really fast."

"I-I think it get it. Thanks," Mitch lied. His headache seared to badly, he couldn't attempt to read anyone's thoughts.

"Wait!" someone called. Something green came from the mist, Yoshi searching around. He saw the van and began running behind it. Mitch caught him in the rear view and slammed the breaks for the dinosaur.

"Listen stranger and Bowser Junior, we need to find Captain Toad. No time for questions!" Yoshi let himself in, scooting the toad and koopa child aside to drive himself. Mitch allowed this at least initially, since Mario's buddy actually possessed legs to press the pedals, but he was baffled again as Yoshi went for the teleporter. "Hopefully yours doesn't make so much fog," Yoshi remarked offhandedly. He spun the right knob it until the spectrum analyzer resembled a mountain peak, and punched the left inward. Bowser Junior did not exaggerate for once, they really went 'ZOOM!'

...Meanwhile Kylie and Toad and two others tagging along continued aimlessly through the mist until the koopa reporter glanced to her right and Toad was missing, her own pink shoes at the edge of a crevasse in the ground. "Gee whiz! You're alright?" she yelled to Toad who had rolled down partially. It went deeper, how much so hard to tell. "I'm seeing remnants of the airship that brought the Mario Fan Club here, amazing! Yet, somethings missing peeps. Obvious as a chain-chomp in a china shop."

"There _was_ something else here," the koopa soldier tagging along, Johnson confirmed. "Probably from aliens."

"Or from remote secret government agents," a spike Mario fanatic added.

"Probably, likely, certainly, you are incorrect! Our secret government agents indeed work here, in fact their hideout is under Shy Guy's Toy Box. I wrote two books about it in eight grade, middle school." They turned and faced Morton Koopa panting. "The object missing is our Timulator but we should not try to find it. That's all part of the Dark Star's morbid, ruthless, waiting game." He reached for Kylie. "It covers, it shrouds, it conceals to execute stealthily."

While everyone else was staying back from Morton, Kylie gawked. "Say it ain't so, brother!"

Toad climbed out of the pit. "Hear that?" There was a faint hum of a machine in the distance, distorted somewhat.

"Hmm. I do. That might be the- Everyone duck!" Kylie dove down with Morton. They hit the grass as a bolt flew over their bodies, a white one instead of the black ones attacking people in the mist.

"Outta the way, gal. Where did he go?" a gritty voice growled. Booigi the Second appeared looking all around rapidly.

Kylie rubbed her head. "Who?" The spike screamed behind her. She whipped around, agape as the young Mario fan collapsed to the ground with a gash in his back. For only a flash she saw Captain Toad, hunched with a blood soaked pickaxe before he disappeared in the mist. He was the mist! She would never forget that look in his eyes.

"Ahh!" Morton jumped up. "He has stolen, looted, our technology!"

Kylie backed away from the body with wavering steps. "Mitch and I had Ludwig's new invention, the teleporter, on LOCK."

"Keep your shells on! That's what Bowser always said," Johnson blurt, special training of the lowly koopa troopa taking over.

"He ain't the only one who can-" Booigi turned around. The Captain, the mist, reappeared again in a way reminiscent of _teleportation_. He fought with a large and strong koopa while another person was on the other side of him, pulling away at Captain Toad's arm with the pickaxe. The Captain gave a backhand slap to sent the weaker one, a toad girl, to the ground hard. He elbowed the larger man, Roy Koopa and with a grunt he collapsed, sunglasses cracking in two.

"Pussy move!" Roy coughed, holding his crotch.

"Not from a guy that wrestled a broozer once," Captain Toad remarked airily. Instead of the usual stab attack, he rose his pickaxe in the air waiting. Not a second later there was the sound of thunder as a black bolt blitz from above.

"Nooooo!" Booigi roared.

With a blinding glare the lightning bounced off of the shiny metal and split in two halves for each victim. Another bang knocked even Captain Toad off his feet. The smoke cleared and Kylie blinked again. Both Roy and Emery were still living rapidly breathing bodies, the object stopping their demise the green Bowser racket blocking the shock for them. The pickaxe was toast, molten iron on the ground.

Booigi got up from the throw that took all the energy from them. "Ha. Ha… Hahahahahahaha!"

"Captain, you're a jerk!" Toad exclaimed in disbelief. He surprised everyone by slugging his look-alike effectively. Kylie was about to rush over, what an event! What a scoop! What a dumb thing to do that she was going to do anyway! -But she felt her phone vibrate.

"I'm back and alive!" Luigi mass texted everyone from Mario's old phone number.

…

**Author note: Next time.. The end!**

**To be continued… **

**Created: 9/13/19, 9/15, 9/22, 9/23**

**Rewrite: 12/10, 12/12, 12/15, 12/19, 12/23, 12/26, 12/28, 12/29, 12/30, **

**1/2/20 , 1/3, 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/12- 1/16**

**Edited: 5/1/20**


	21. Cause and Effect

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)**

**Cause and Effect (Chapter 21)**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.**

**Author note: *Newly fixed up a bit***

…

Dr. Toadley's assistant deflated when she scanned in vain for a stereo system in the utilitarian vehicle. At least she found he interior clean, sterile and well.. vacuumed. She waited incessantly in the car of a kooky scientist, a different one rather, and her bottom was numb, wishing then that Dr. Toadley had room for her to accompany him hour ago. Nothing personal against Prof. E. Gadd, but she found his studies as interesting as terrifying. That extended even to his coffee making.

"Apologizes for the delay." The professor scampered out the clinic. "-Let's dismount this monitor and we're ready. Toadley texted at the last minute that he wants it packed."

"T-the sixty inch one that he promised me to leave in the building because it was way too large and we'd have no room for it in our new smaller office? That one?"

The old professor's smile waned. "Will that be a problem?"

Mary resisted making a face. "I would be happy to oblige.."

While they were hauling it out something loudly clunked down on the clinic's roof. The puff cloud above dissipated by the time Gadd climbed up the ladder up to check it out.

Not a moment later a person clung to him desperately. "Professor! Is it the nineteenth of May 2019?"

Gadd nodded agape. After giving his glasses a swipe across his white lab coat, the wreckage from a spacecraft pod and the four people that had survived were still present and not a trick of his old tired eyes.

A moment later, the professor leaned back on his car pensively. "Criminy, _another_ time machine after that 'situation' with the Mushroom decree?" He remembered vividly his patented contribution to the temporal 'space race' against Dark Land culminating in everyone, even Bowser willingly deciding to scrap it all. Such a thing never occurred again until the recent ban on mach speed personal travel, also known as teleportation. The four he spoke to, Luigi, Peach, and two koopalings he got names mixed up of could only partially follow his careful explanations. Had the Mushroom Flu broken out? What happened to Ludwig? Why was the banner in memory of Mario, 1981- 2019 displayed on an office building across the street showing a date two weeks earlier that it should have been for his death? Was Peach's Castle still around? Bowser Castle? Was a pizza place nearby open?

"Easy everyone," Gadd chided mildly. "There has been no Mushroom Flu in decades. Ludwig's a vagabond according to radio. It's been busy times. Mario passed two weeks ago, condolences if- oh that happened in your timeline too.. The rest of your questions are too political for me to elaborate. It's all been since the teleportation accident-"

After their reaction the professor's tone took on less impersonal nature.

"-I'll slow down. Ludwig claimed his teleporter was inspired by dream or reverie of visitors 'appearing' in his home one night. Know that while the effect looks like what Dr. Professor Koopa did for Bowser in the 90's with his never replicated teleporting potion- If I wasn't banned from the Special World doctor's association I'd hinted to them that he obviously used ecto- oh never mind. Ludwig used hyper speed movement to make a subject 'teleport'. He had his sights on a Mega Villain award but then- two very famous people pushed it to the limit and competition got fierce. Hero and villain went too far and.. that's the tragically of Mario and Bowser.."

Iggy listened, slightly glazed over. "-What about the pizza place?"

"Seriously?" Lemmy frowned at his brother when he noticed wacky watch glowing green in his palms, like an eerie night vision feature in the day. The moon phase was set to a 'new moon' and the hands magnetically snapped to a certain direction like a compass. The rainbow haired koopaling and everyone else followed the direction down the street with their eyes.

"Club Gamecube's open," Gadd continued as if the odd thing hadn't occurred.

Unanimously Luigi and crew agreed to squeeze in Gadd's SUV. The pure white forest trekking machine fitted over sized tires, constructed of anti-boo fiberglass, and equipped with extra bright headlamps darted to the diner for Luigi's crew to grab a snack they didn't realize they were craving then the professor agreed to help them. Going several directions, sometimes backing on itself again he tracked wherever the Wacky Watch lead around town like a hound.

"It's Boo-Tracker model I'm working on sonny," Gadd touched on after Luigi had stared at the rainbow colored radar looking contraption mounted to the windshield enough. He screeched before a huge wall of mist where Toad Town and Area 64 met. It stretched as high as the sky and the watch pointed into the directly into it, prodding further investigation.

"Oh my God I want to get out of here! I'll do anything! I'll walk!" Dr. Toadley's assistant squealed, sandwiched between the koopalings in the backseat. She'd took off the headphones that kept her ignorant of everything only just then.

Luigi's eyes dilated as the unspeakable happened. A puffy cloud dropped to the ground street away from them like a rock, erupting into the splash they could see over the roofs of buildings. "Aww heck! The sky is falling!"

"Ooh, read that in the Timulator's original service manual," Iggy explained sheepishly. "Deterioration of the atmosphere is a side effect of changes to the time line. It's totally temporary I promise! Just stay indoors it warned!"

With a gasp Dr. Toadley's assistant clicked her seat belt back on. "Keep me in this car!"

"Onward we go!" the professor sang. The headlamps switched to high beams inside the mysterious subsection of the Mushroom Kingdom where the landscape transformed into rural farmland. Gadd knew there was something decidedly special going on, the real reason he so eagerly pushed back his plans for the day. He'd taken a peek at the Wacky Watch which was currently in Peach's palms at the moment due to bumps in the road knocking everyone around and was captivated by that 'dark' moon phase...

Less than a mile away.. A camera captured first hand the carnage of a mob chasing their target and cornering him where a high fence partitioned a plot of fire flowers from ice flowers. Before anyone could clobber him a Channel 64 news van teleported on the scene with a heavy plonk as it flattened dozens of flowers.

"Everyone back up!" Yoshi jumped out. Captain Toad, panting heavily in the spot he was cornered in, had two black eyes.

"GYAH!.. I mean- Mr. Yoshisaur, thank you for the backup! (Finally..)" Gathered around him Roy was ready sling fists, Booigi leering, Kylie who was not part of the vigilante crowd as she would insist just documenting, Toad, Morton and other bystanders caught red handed.

"Stop standin' round and pound em!" Roy lounged forward.

Yoshi tossed an egg at Roy. It cracked on his skull which stopped the nineteen year old in his tracks. "I said, back up! What's going on?"

Kylie put away her camera a little too late to escape Yoshi's attention. "Hold on brother, before you pull out your handcuffs know that Luigi's back!"

Yoshi's gaze bounced around. "From.. where?" The dinosaur just couldn't remember, rapid onset dino-dementia he feared and that was a terrible thought, but he couldn't focus on that then.

"Luigi accompanied, was whisked away with my brothers, siblings, collages, Lemmy and Iggy and the princess, the ruler of this land, and together went back to prevent an event. What event?-" Morton lectured, eyes closed and sporting that pompous look as always. He went silent unnaturally before he could warn that as he'd studied in travel guides by conspiracy theorists the 'curse of Area 64' had set in. Starting right...then!

Kylie was ready to continue the story when her own brain scrambled. All her learned memory techniques gone in an instant, an empty head on her on shoulders, the subject of Mario Maker and Mr. Eraser. Then she fainted.

Yoshi nearly dashed to her before a wave of lightheadedness hit him. "Someone else check on her!"

Koopa Scouts kicking in, Junior dove after Kylie straight from the car. "I've been trained for this!" Whatever that phrase meant the koopa child thought. When he was old enough to drive he wanted to drive a tank with laser guns, not a 'train'.

"Everybody I remember! The Captain was swingin' that pickaxe around like the Mushroom Slasher... and vanishing! .. I think?" Toad's face scrunched up, taking everything he had to scrape that memory up.

"And more! I guess I gotta be da smart one, huh," Roy growled. "Luddy and em, Iggy built da machine 'cause a few days ago our uh, butler, nah chef, nah. Someone died and they had ta stop it. Arrgh. Dats all I got." The buff koopaling shrugged as no one could explain what happened only a few hours ago. Yoshi gave up, noticing then that he was missing Captain Toad- and Booigi. His heart sunk again...

"GRRR GET BACK HERE GAAHH!" Booigi barked as they chased Captain Toad deeper into agricultural territory. The two had gotten a mile away from the others by now. Booigi could get close enough to smell him, to almost taste him, to imagine squeezing the life out of him before the toad squeezed through the barrier of Old McKoopa's farm and into Lil Oink Nepoleon plot of land, a field known for its grassy bowl shape.

Whack! Booigi became dazed then, smacking their face against a white marble pillar with micro blocks of words inscribed. It sprouted out of nowhere and when they craned their neck, it seemed to stretch infinitely upwards.

"_Congratulations, you have reached the pillar of understanding._." it said softly. "_Perceive my sayings._"

Boo might have done it, a frequent reader books delivered to their home because public libraries caused social anxiety, but Boo? Who needed Boo? Booigi the Second disregarded it. Ahead in the field Captain Toad's back faced Booigi, crouching still where where he stopped observing a dented piece of machinery planted in a little crater from impact. Appearing to be a vintage hard disk there was a slit on the side where the substance creating the foggy landscape was seeping out.

Booigi froze, turning their head to the side before anger blazed anew. "Turn around!"

Slowly he obeyed. Captain Toad looked ghastly and his open palms crusted with dried blood, but the deranged nature was shed and the his black pupils lacked the unnatural starry nature from before. "Hold on! I don't know what I've become, what's happened, or where this came from, okay?!" The Captain ripped the teleportation module off of this chest where it was strapped. Booigi paid no mind, zoning in like a charging debull.

"By the power of Eldstar you're freaking dead!" Booigi punched him in the stomach so hard he coughed up blood. They glared deep into the toad's beady eyes and was about to crush his neck. Squeezing him extremely hard and fueled by all of the buried disappointment and bitterness Boo ever felt, they were so engulfed in those emotions they felt hot enough to melt. Now Booigi received a vision of tall decaying and abandoned building, the one where boo community meetings were held and Boo was brutally laughed out of the club by their own cousins. Now Boo, their normal self, appeared at the roof shivering, sticking to the middle until another darker boo poofed behind Boo and flung them off with a wicked laugh. Booigi watched their original self plummet to their death-

"Be careful with that!"

Booigi, drenched in sweat, returned to reality. Captain Toad slipped their grasp as Ludwig sprinted down after them unexpectedly. He had a worn light jacket and scarf flowing in the wind, more scraggly and gaunt than remembered. "I assume you're still allies, correct? Good! My prospects more dim than an goomba squadron. That is right, the battalion zapped our resources in half and we lost fifty lives. In addition I've tried everything to escape this zone! Good news: that sandwich you gave me yesterday, delicious now- Soldiers?" Ludwig reached out to Booigi and then The Captain. He gave both a blank stare. "You both look like crap," he remarked bluntly. "-But don't we all? Anyway, I fear reality has folded on itself and I attribute it to that 'Timulator memory deck' at your feet."

Captain Toad and Booigi saw the machine again in a new light. The toad backed up slowly, eyes opened wide. "I did this. I really did this.." he repeated breathlessly.

"Don't you dare.." Booigi glared. Suddenly they gunned after the toad again and Ludwig found himself all alone, aside from a note left from Booigi/Boo. It was checklist 'Notes from Morton' it detailed.

Ludwig scooped it up very curious of how that 'traitor' Morton would be in contact with approved ally Boo Diddly. A once over later he pinched between his brows. It was as his theory suggested. It mentioned angry mob, something about time travel, and 'Dark Star'.

"No such occurred in _my_ timeline so- Ugh! My theory IS correct. I am in two realities at once. An alternate universe myself not only fixed but utilized a time machine," he thought out loud. He waved an arm agitating the mist for demonstration. "Why didn't it click before? This is not fog or my hair would be frizzy." The blue strands in fact were limp over the koopaling's shoulders. "It is space dust, which would not be surprising if we _were_ under the attack of this 'Dark Star'."

Ludwig spitefully stomped the teleporter from Captain Toad, making it crunch under his feet. He was so upset he could explode. The civil war he was in, his father and Mario's recent passing that he was the blame for partially, the fact that his fifteen teleportation patents were illegally copied to create duplicates that disrespected the aforementioned tragedy.. All candidates of his ire, especially those heinous teleporter ripoffs that shared the inherent design flaw of going too fast and killing the user if solid objects blocked the path. The koopaling took notice of an increasingly bright light source then. The glow of high beams dazzled him so that him couldn't see the source until it was on top of him nearly. He knew alone any more.

Ludwig shielded his face. "_Gesundheit! _A rescue team! Or.. Verdammt, an ambush!" Either way he rose his arms in peace as the silhouettes of five people scrambled out.

"Luddy, you're still okay!" Lemmy beamed. He was the first to leave the car, a confidence he wasn't used to oozing from him.

Ludwig blinked twice. "You're back from the Moon so soon?"

Lemmy's wide smile faltered in confusion.

Ludwig's expression mirrored his younger brother. "Nevermind. I think.. I am referring to _another_ you."

Then Luigi sprung forward to tackle both professor and princess down inches away from touching the machine.

"Luigi!" Peach contested. "I wasn't in a trance, we were lead here- to this... thing for a reason!" The tickle of energy in the air was unmistakable.

Ludwig woefully eyed Prof. Gadd. "Now you find yourself in my position. Does it please you now that in Sarasaland right now in some sweat shop, underage workers are are handling tedious little screws that look like Philips but are actually 'JIS B 1012' for their replicas of my teleporter prototype for coins a day all because you allowed the first leak of my blueprints?"

"..I apologize," Gadd said in a muffled voice from the grass his mouth. "I came to my senses!"

"Luddy why are you so hard up man?" Iggy asked, again leaning against the car for support of his ankle.

Ludwig took a deep breath. "Because none of you are from my timeline. I'll catch you up: I'm on the run. There is a large bounty me. Most of my own turned against me. Society is breaking down. Hundreds are dying daily from political confusion. I did not brush my teeth this morning. That's just some of the reasons I'm 'hard up'." He paused again. "We can't stay here. Many want my blood."

Lemmy fought against the natural tendency to shake like a leaf. Instead he balled his fists in determination. "I hate that we couldn't fix everything or keep dad from.. yeah, but I remember stuff another you told me and I'm not gonna forget it! Let's get out of here!"

Ludwig approached the younger brother gently. "A heck of a lot of things must have happened to get you where you are now, little brother. Regardless I like it. Help me destroy this space dust spewing memory module. It has by some event been endued to become a 'special object'."

"The Timulator explosion," Luigi, Lemmy, and Iggy said at once.

Mary screamed from inside the car, grabbing their attention. Two koopas were giving war cries in the distance, attracted by the light and charging at everyone.

"Caught ya, sucka!" Larry flung himself over a fence with war paint under his eyes and tattered red bandanna tied around his head. The usual mohawk was back into a pony tail and he brandished a koopatrol grade spear with lava hardened iron. It was thrown and everyone ducked to the ground where it planted deep and barely missed Ludwig.

Wendy trailed her little brother. She was very plain with no make up, only a spray painted pink army helmet and had an embroidered zapper hostler. Lemmy noticed right away because he'd fired it some time on the Dark Land range that it was the one Kammy gifted her one year as a horrible misunderstanding of what the kids were into.

"Under 'Kingly Law XXVYXCWYZ section 20' you are decommissioned as Dark Land general and deemed guilty for blowing up the castle and what happened to daddy." The ocean princess aimed the weapon. Everyone's arms rose.

Larry marched up to everyone smugly. He snatched the watch from Peach and made it rattle around. "What's this hunk of junk worth?"

"Don't!" the princess protested.

"Shuddup, yo!" Larry pulled out another spear and spun it around stylishly, savoring every moment. "What's gonna save y'all now? The po-po?"

"Exactly, young man. Freeze!" Ranger Yoshi strode on the scene with a strict professional and impassive demeanor, wearing a deputy hat and a gold badge on his chest. "First renegade teleporting then most conspiring with most wanted Ludwig Von Koopa and his-" the constable briefly observed. "Weather machine!"

Prof. Gadd quietly scolded himself for not shutting down his car's lights. It was acting like a beacon and more bodies were coming into focus drawn to it. Area 64's scale at first seemed impossibly vast but now those still alive were stumbling upon each other easily on accident.

Daringly, Luigi picked up the tape drive and whisked himself away in a blink of the eye. Roy was approaching, the 'New Roy' as he made no resistance to the switch, and he wanted pounce everyone without knowing why. "Get em!"

Wendy climbed on his back and fired shots into the giant cloud obscuring Luigi and crew. "Drats.."

Morton tried to keep up with large heavy steps. "Do not harm Luigi and company!" he started as new and old memories clashed in his skull. Another 'Morton' fought to take over, one that wanted to seize Ludwig. That same new timeline Morton also however knew a dire secret stringing the entire operation along. -If only he had an audience to reveal it to!

The surviving eclectic group of the Mario Fan Club realized who was in their midst sought to chase Ludwig. The Koopa Troop were as anti-teleportation as their family and while they had no memory suddenly of why they were in the Mushroom Kingdom in the first place, they yearned to kill the father of teleportation, unaware of its real origins, and any of his allies.

"Quick thinking, boy. The best thing to do sometimes is make like a boo and vanish!"

Luigi faintly made out Prof. Gadd giving an impressive hustle for his age. They left Napoleon's farm to the dirt roads again and then out into a paved road. Luigi escaped Area 64's fog wall with the tape drive cradled in his arms. The city however had transformed. More clouds had fallen, making everything wispier. The sun could not even be made out as any more than a dull glow and gathered at the street walk with him was Peach, Lemmy, and Ludwig only.

"Where's the rest?" Luigi gasped.

"Check again, plumber!" Ludwig peered back as high beams sliced through the mist and Gadd's van pulled up. The window rolled down and Iggy was driving with one leg propped up and Dr. Toadley's intern in the back hyperventilating.

"Have you guys played Grand Theft Auto?"

"Not a fan?" Luigi answered hesitantly, fearing the worst.

"Me neither. I'm more of an MMO player," Iggy concluded, bringing that thought nowhere.

"-We can put that machine the car?" Peach asked to get back to business. "If we drop it off Star Hill just north of my castle here's no way the poor thing will survive."

"Miss Petunia hitched a ride back there once. Yes, there is room," Gadd reassured.

"I approve of this course of action." Ludwig helped himself inside, swinging into a bucket seat with the coat rack. "Just hold your breaths. Space dust causes asthma and hives."

A u-turn was necessitated and performed quickly with pursuers leaving Area 64. (Un)fortunately for them Iggy was a maniac on the road. They busted through the gate out of the South and back into Toad Town. Luigi peeked out of the window to find someone holding the gate shut shut with unusual strength, thus locking out the majority of the Mario Fan Club. Luigi saw not Captain Toad but 'Stan', the normal guy who left Toad Town for adventure one day without a brigade or even his headlamp, and returned alive to become an inspiration for heroic toads everywhere.

On smoother roads the seven sped the crammed vehicle down urban streets of questionable visibility when they heard sirens. The flashing lights overtook them and they saw that it was a Channel 64 van.

Ranger Yoshi raced swerved along side them. "Stop the vehicle!"

Kylie rolled the back window down with an ice pack on her head. A green capped toad they didn't know (Mitch) was also back there. "My darn noggin's gone bad and I don't know why I'm saying this, but keep going, brother!"

Ranger Yoshi glared in the rear view. "Stay out of this, reporters."

"Slow down so I can snap a better photo, dude," Mitch yelled over the wind.

"Not falling for that."

Whoosh! Now a Boo was setting, or floating in the empty passenger seat next to the sheriff. Boo did something they never thought they'd have the courage to do without the crutch of Booigi. Boo grabbed the wheel and veered the news van over and off into the curb and into Toad Town park. Fighting over control, they ran through plants and bushes and trees and eventually ended up nose first into the water fountain.

Gadd's car passed cut through the square and started to head north of the city when they faced another a mixed bunch of Koopa Troop of all shapes and sizes lined across the four lane street in unison. There was a Dark Land desert storm tank in the rear forcing them divert at the intersection to a smaller back street.

"The Koopa Troop cooperating? Where did they get that from?" Ludwig lamented as the tank became hot on their trail. Lemmy was about to mention it was actually him that gave the entire army tranquility training last year but that was neither here nor there. The tank fired and blew up a fire hydrant. The gushing water created a hint of quarter rainbow.

"Ohmygosh, that's totally cool and they're heading to the castle where I've never been there before! Wow, I want an autograph from Toadsworth and I want to see if the giant paintings are real!" someone said inside the tank. The hatch opened, revealing Emery who was chippy for just a moment before firing off waves of ammo at Gadd's car with murderous intent again. They swung around the corner and were back on Starman road.

"Blast them already!" Bowser Junior screeched, the commander responsible for the dozens road signs they'd knocked down.

The suv made a split down an alley between Club 64 and an item shop while the tank blasted down both buildings. The structures peeled like a banana, revealing the ruffled folk who were in both. Some toads were in the item shop but a group consisting of a monty mole, a mega goomba, a parakoopa, a wiggler, and a snifit were in the diner and very unhappy.

"Blowing up places to eat is a health violation. Get dat tank boys!" James 'Jimmy' M of the Mushroom Kingdom Disease Control Unit declared. The MKDCU mercilessly chased the Koopa Troop tank down.

Emery recognized her classmate Sebastian and got cold feet, not warning the koopa prince that he was running the tank off of the ramp to Royal Raceway and into the lake. They splashed in the water and frighteningly for them, the MKDCU chased them to the seabed where the hunt continued on among cheep cheeps and bloopers.

As Gadd's car escaped up the ramp of Royal Raceway drive, Peach saw her castle over the hill and noticed with a complex mix of horror and intrigue that it seemed exactly as it was in her timeline, even down to the crack down the moat and the same construction company that she'd selected at random from and dusty phone book. They drove along Peach's Castle and collectively shuddered. They were beaten there. Larry, Roy, Morton, and Wendy were in the yard while the construction company continued to work and ignore their presence. Roy dauntlessly stepped before the car and forced them to screech.

"Ha! We knew you'd try to hide at da castle, Luddy!" Roy growled, propping his foot on the van's grill.

"I am impressed you attempted to use your brain," Ludwig replied with a huff. "But..WRONG!"

"I don't think we should be ticking these guys off," Luigi groaned, "Considering-"

Morton ripped the door off of on the passenger side. "We have ravished your watch! Now relinquish, give up, hand over, the smoke machine that is currently burning, irritating, my eyes!" Roy ripped off the opposite door and then Wendy blasted one of the tires flat, sinking the car to the side.

"-That," Luigi sighed.

"Everyone out!" the furious female koopaling howled. Larry lifted the back door and got blasted with the space dust. He choked at first then relaxed, posture slumping. Being in the tight space with the dust and the resulting red eyes made Luigi and crew smell and look like galactic stoners from outer space.

"We surrender!" The intern looked to Prof. Gadd for support. "Right? (We have real careers you know.)"

The professor simply smiled back. "Can I get one thing from the car? It's important, can't live without it."

"Like what?" Wendy aimed the zapper at his chest.

"My leak protection underwear," he replied stoically.

"Ugh! Go on before you start pissing all over the place!" Wendy kept her nose scrunched and zapper aimed as Gadd sidestepped Larry. He went out of view and the other six waited anxiously while Peach watched a shadow in an upper window of her castle, the only one not shattered. It had a round head like a toad. She stopped herself from being too excited or conspicuous. Her blue eyes darted to the closest person next to her, Lemmy. They shared the briefest glance but the koopaling caught on. Lemmy whistled loudly, startling his siblings and forcing everyone to cover their ears. Eye daggers from Wendy, Morton, Roy, and Larry impaled him. He could almost feel it literally.

"I do that when I'm nervous, you know that!" Lemmy sputtered.

"Since when?" Wendy, Roy, and Larry replied.

"Since- How did you beat us here?" Lemmy diverted cleverly. "Don't lie now. Too late, your eyelid is doing the twitchy thing Wendy!"

His sister clammed up worridly, a flash of the sister Lemmy remembered- at least when she knew she was in trouble. Wendy then yanked something from her shell with a red button green button and dial for distance. A teleporter. The shock on Ludwig's face surpassed all.

"Sister mine! How?"

Morton rose one finger, interpreting this moment for a reason only he knew to be the time to reveal his secret. "Ah ha. I remember! The manhunt for Ludwig is not because of the bob-omb strike on our castle but because Wendy was going to take credit for teleporting in the name of Koopa female contributions in sciences and technology as she felt she really gave Luddy the idea and she felt he got too much credit for group efforts in the Koopa Troop and with the money and fame she was going to buy Water Land, build a resort, build an army of vicious fashion warriors and occasionally appear on the Poshley Heights runway as the 'Mystique Queen Wendy O.' while the rest brothers of us do whatever we want because if it was ugly boy stuff she didn't care about it anyway!"

...

Luigi blinked. "What."

Wendy pat down stringy hairs that had sprung up on their own. "..Remember when I was snooping around old potions in the castle? I found the teleportation one and Luddy, you laughed me off because to you 'it was utter futility'. Then weeks later I was nice to you and made some special tea for concentration. Well, maybe I had an AP brewery class to study for too, but point is I did something nice."

Ludwig nodded, his expression begging for more clarification.

"Kammy taught me how, it's actually a memory tonic. The same one she gave to Kamek decades ago. Behind every great man is a.. Yeah. So with the help of her tonic he created the indestructible wands standard issue to magikoopas today. You'll never see her part in that in the books and that's a problem with the Koopa Kingdom. Those that deserve credit don't get it if their a girl. It's like a political pyramid scheme." She abruptly fired in the sky with no trigger discipline. "And I hate pyramids! And deserts, and dry weather- you get me."

"You make a point. Some of the Koopa Kingdom's ways are outdated, but is this really- how to say- the right time for revolution? All seven other continental Kingdoms turned on us after Vater's passing, you know that! I did bomb our castle, but it was to destroy the teleporters there. It was a critical, brutal, and complex decision. Moreso than I've ever made." Ludwig explained. Luigi and co remained deathly silent, soaking in the events of this new reality. "Sister mine, you are only seventeen and what's happening-"

"Is to big for me to understand, right Luddy? Is it really my age that's the issue? I've studied the same books as you," she hissed. "You just assume I can't understand!"

"Wendy," Iggy plead. "I don't think that. I'm tired of dragging assistants to the basement with me and I've asked you a million times to help out. We are the only Sony fans in the castle, we have to stick together."

"No, nerd breath," she replied.

"Wendy dear," Peach started in a mild but firm way, "is this really about untapped creativity that patriarchal koopa customs stifle? -Or do you just want selfish power?"

Wendy was still for a moment and then screeched, slamming the gun down to the ground. "Alright! Like we could really keep the Koopa Troop going without daddy! What will we do? Junior was next in line but he's a kid and we're just- I don't even know! We're rejects! We always were! Now daddy doesn't have to be miserable anymore while we suffer! Do we know what to do with ourselves? Roy?"

Roy spun from her to the others, dumbfounded.

"You Larry?"

The fifteen year old was too dizzy to reply.

She then pointed at her oldest brother. "And you were just gonna ride it out Luddy. The world against us and you run!"

"Correct." Ludwig lowered his head. "We have no King. We have nothing. Nichts."

Luigi opened his mouth to say something but couldn't, feeling punched.

This wasn't going right, Lemmy thought. The bleak mood was identical to the morning before they time traveled. He and his siblings aimless and waiting around to die of emptiness. He would _never_ return to that dark place. Lemmy stepped forward. "Everyone, it doesn't have to be this way! We're not losers or cowards or failures or anything just cause dad's gone! Don't you know what we've been through? If Dark Land has no king at the moment then- I'm the King now!" He took a larger step closer and Wendy staggered back and fell on her butt.

"Hip is King?" she babbled. It seemed she'd have a change of face before she scowled and pressed a button on the teleporter she'd ripped off. The moody sky flashed.

Morton held his tongue, the first to spot the sentry teleporting on the scene with something hanging on. "Not even a time paradox would make me turn on you, princess!" Toad tussled in the sky with Sentry 11. Arguing over control hey swooped over everyone's heads, the construction workers, and into the open hole on the castle where Peach's mosaic was.

Wendy had another shock of her life as the ground shook. The doors of the castle opened wide and a gaggle of toads rushed out, hopping bravely over the broken moat and spreading out into the field. Buckenberry lead the way and everyone split into chaos. It was then that Prof. Gadd emerged from the van with what a cruder prototype F.L.U.D.D strapped to his back. He grabbed the Tape Drive and Dr. Toadley's intern and up he went in the sky with the jet stream, up and over the castle.

"Don't stand down! I said, Morton- No! Ahhg! You guys are DORKS! Come back here!" Wendy growled, the zapper getting stomped on dozens of times and unusable. Roy had five toads attacking him in unison and Morton got so mixed up his shell spun backwards.

"We're being trashed by talking mushrooms! Whoa maaaann!" Larry tripped out and scurried away.

The backyard of the castle had construction tools and pallets Luigi and Peach weaved through, following Gadd's trail in the sky over the hills where the sky darkened, the soil became purple and the twinkles of stars above tickled their ears. The location had a captivating feeling in the air, a vestige of star energy from a set of events so long ago. A third of the way up the winding path Luigi crossed Prof. Gadd and the intern just as they landed. The professor was bent to his knees, panting.

"I'll feel this one tomorrow!" Gadd tossed it over. "Take this boy. Make me proud!"

They went up to the cliffs edge where the sky was a deep purple and star bits sprinkled down like gentle rain. Luigi glanced over and the unfathomable drop, like the bottomless pits of legend where no light escaped and anything down there was doomed, prey of the dreaded Underchomp.

"Ready plumber?" Ludwig dropped down beside him, the first time he'd paid attention of who was on his heels aside from Peach. "Or shall we wait for the King?" he added with no sarcasm.

"Go!" Lemmy high pitched voice said from a distance back.

Luigi locked on to him quickly but earnestly. "Lemmy? Thanks for that earlier...now let's roll."

Together Luigi and Ludwig slung the tape drive off the cliff so tenaciously they almost tossed themselves with it. Peach, Lemmy, and Iggy pulled them back as the black box vanished in the dark pit. They waited for a reaction so intensely they didn't hear the commotion and the clatter of others tearing up perfectly preserved landscape until Iggy rolled over to his back and slid up his glasses for a good view. "Whoa nelly!"

Everyone spun to spot Larry Koopa running for his life, tears running from him like sprinklers. The petrified teenager cling to Ludwig. He had his rebel bandanna torn off and all weapons long tossed.

"Man I'm sorry! Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! I don't feel good anymore!"

"Larry!" Ludwig gasped.

"-Here take it back!" Larry retrieved from his shell the Wacky Watch and dropped like trash as the rest of the hoard arrived.

The toads who'd chased Larry chanted and Buckenberry and Alagold was in the forefront with a flashlight. "For Mario!" he added to the chant.

Larry hid behind everyone's feet. "I'm just a kid! Don't let them freaking kill meeeee!"

Luigi saw the fire, the spirit of Mario in the toads. He rose his voice trying to stop them but the locomotive was in motion at full speed.

Lemmy scooped up the watch and felt like all the stage spotlights in the world were shining on him at once. He'd better have a grand finale and he figured it out. He flung the glowing object as hard as he could over the ledge. The Earth shook and before the toad army could pulverize anyone a colossal beam of green light ascended up into the heavens with a tumultuous drone that sent dozens of bodies rolling down hill.

...

"Let us take a breather. No? Okay, carry on." Millennium Star's aside was enough distraction to halt the barrage of dark matter for a second. The dark star, Doomella as he knew because he knew everyone, was fierce, young and bored while Earth suffered from the leftovers of her influence. She was crafty too, in more places than one, which was not unheard of but unexpected from such a sweet little face. The war continued before a flash of green separated them.

"Why does this keep happeningggggg!" Doomella was launched across the atmosphere by the beam. People all around the planet observed a black shooting star make going round and round.

Celebration short lived, Millennium Star circled the Earth to catch up. If she got buried again from impact the entire ordeal would simply repeat in a hundred or so more years and he'd have to deal with it again. Those darn downsides of immortality.. During the seventh revolution the ancient star observed perspicaciously the numbers '4444 Chai' on the smooth but dull metal husk of a flying missile as it performed acrobatic maneuvers over the skies of Chai, Muda, Birabuto, and the East ocean.

...Back on Earth, Daisy's fingers scraped against the bottom of her bowl of snacks while the other hand was on the joystick controlling the missile. There was a blotted out portion of her memory obscuring how it launched in the first place but there was no time for her special meditation technique involving standing on her head. There was no safe place to take it down, not even the ocean with spring season bringing tourists on boats. A new blip whipped across the screens.

"Phone!" Ming popped up over her shoulder. He waited then added, "-It's Luigi!"

She snatched the phone. "Hello, this is indeed Luigi! Have you observed the object in the sky? It is the dark star! Ho ho- ahem. -If you happened to have an object under your skillful control to attack it, why, that would be convenient my love."

"'_My love'_, did you just call me that dawg?" Daisy flushed, amused and flustered at once. That was undoubtedly the green plumber's voice even if the inflections were unfamiliar. Regardless, the edge in her melted away. She mashed the controls harder making the missile chase at super sonic speeds out of Sarasaland territory and above the East Sea. Then- the screen was an empty grid. Daisy zoomed out the radar view and nearly flipped in her seat. She'd chased that object and created an explosion all the way in the Mushroom Kingdom...

"Success!" boomed Millennium Star with a thunderous voice. 500 tones of nuclear power shot Doomella deep into space, soaring before smacking against a dome shape. Her face slid down a window while luma children giggled from within the structure, then she fell to flat marble with circles engraved. There was a grassy area to the left, a velvet red carpet to the right, and shoes tapping in front of her, hidden behind a long teal gown.

"Well, what do we have here?" Rosalina waved a hand and summoned a dozen lumas to dance and gather around the dazed dark star. "(Heart music note)!?, how did you know the precise location to park the Observatory?"

Geno arrived from the opposite side. "I've been blasted from many planets before. I could calculate the trajectory in my sleep!"

"Wonderful!" The space queen cupped the star warrior's face and they blushed at each other while Doomella wailed in the background. Eldstar was behind schedule due to something that make his phone call to Geno a few moments ago be full of barking. Geno understood that Doomella would soon _really_ wish she remained buried in Sarasaland.

...

Luigi woke up a minute after the blast with many others. While his body sent the signal of agony, inwardly he rattled too hard for any sensation. He staggered to his feet as something circular rose from the heart of Toad Town. A stainless steel fan larger than the hills rose into the mist and let out a loud click while a dramatic orchestra piece played. Ludwig recognized it, a piece from the daring Finnish Shy Guy named Bise in his ballet called "Brickfielder? I hardly know her! (Blow me away)". The motor roared, three blades rotated clockwise, and the whirlwind swept anything not bolted down away. A colossal storm, the space dust and fallen clouds in the atmosphere were blown into the ocean where he sun could scorch it away. The fan then peeled away as a 2-D object.

...

"Oh no! Our hard work!" whined a purple robed bandit, arms stretched out to catch some of the tattered pieces of the 'thing sticker' floating in the ether, the one he and Jelectro, Agent N, Spy Guy, Agent 999, Agent M, and Agent Toad spent the last nine hours unpeeling from the remote Decalburg.

"Return to base, agents." The yoshi spy captain gave a quick peek out of the secret warp pipe the agents were hiding in. "Yes, you too Trevor!" he added before the pink boo could slip away into the city. He watched each of them drag their feet in assuming they had feet, but stopped the short noki so that they were the last agents left in the open. He lowered his tone. "You still shook me out of bed at 4 AM and I want an explanation, Jelectro. Don't say it was for this. Fog is not an emergency."

"It was mon ami, trust me," Jelectro slung his arm around him. "Oh and payback for making sleep on the couch once."

"What?.."

...Star bits once exclusive to the hill sailed across Toad Town and surrounding, sprinkling every unsettled villager with a gentle calming and sparkly shower. The toads returned to the castle to find that a hunk of a Sarasaland missile had crushed the structure down to rubble. Returning also, Peach cupped her face in horror. She could not fathom the catastrophe until Toadsworth and his prophecy of her castle's demise, the reason the toads had abandoned her in the other timeline, rung in the back of her mind. She dropped to the ground and laughed madly.

Luigi walked aimlessly down the Royal Raceway away from the castle. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten there but with the adventure over the spark was gone. What remained was the wandering husk he was just the other day. The same one that missed his brother's memorial...

The ex-plumber snapped awake then and dropped to his knees faintly. "Mario. Just know. That I did it. For you..."

...

...

…

"_I know, little bro. No one else could have done it __better._"

Luigi lifted his face as tears streamed down and looked upwards to the stars.

...

**Author note: E****pilogue time! Was t****his what you thought it'd be? Was it what I thought it'd be? No but ****I decided that this ambivalent conclusion as opposed to the saccharine one New Frenemy Adventure (and to a lesser ****extent**** the non-Redux Frenemies Forever) brought us is what really fit. ****Thanks for reading. If there's questions, it might be answered soon.**

**Created: 1/16/20, 1/19, 1/21, 1/22, 1/24, 1/25, 1/28, 1/31, 2/1, 2/2, 2/4, 2/5, 2/6, 2/8, 2/9**

**Edit: 3/2/20, 7/13/20**


	22. Epilogue: The Friend

**Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)**

**Epilogue: 'The Friend'**

**Disclaimer: Mario and co belong to Nintendo**

…

The rocky terrain escalated its maze like tendencies so that even the star who inhabited the land lost his bearing in the chase. He darted where two rock structures formed a v shaped dead end. He spun around with a growl. "Stay back, blokes! I'm innocent!" The black star's face twisted in malice and the hairs of his goatee curled into a dangerous spiral. As the spotlight blared on him from the combined torches of Eldstar and a half dozen star warriors, the cracked volcanic soil rumbled from the rabid bouncing of the beast held back in the distance by another gaggle of the battlers. Obsidian pebbles steadily pour down the hills of the mountainous spot and then there was a crash as the unseen animal smashed completely through the rock wall. Dark Ztar coughed violently from the onslaught of dust. "Bloodly 'ell!"

"There is no point in pretending, Zach." Eldstar cleared his throat, prompting the star warrior to his left to clear the air with a palm branch. "The veil is lifted permanently." The great star remained taxed by the mad dash from Dark Ztar's castle and vexed by the time wasted. He purposed a proper courtly session to illuminate last few weeks he and the other Star Spirits were frozen in time, but someone sent the subpoena to the wrong address in the Dark Realm! So now.. Eldstar was somehow in the middle of harms way, his bad hip be darned.

"Hm? S'explain the charges, mate." Dark Ztar smirked.

Eldstar's left eye twitched, then he sighed. "You collaborated with another adversary of mine on Earth."

"She buggered about with me as well! I've nothing to do with 'er anymore!"

"And by my grace so. I know the maniacal schemes between you two would be longer than all of the scrolls the temple could hold! Eons ago Miss Doomella Belstar attempted mass extermination of the galaxy. As punishment she was transformed by me into an inanimate object and banished to Earth, kaput in the grasp of 99.9% of mortals. I sometimes made that mistake in earlier days," the great star admitted sheepishly to the star warriors accompanying him that were many millenniums younger. They remained as stoic as marble busts to the news, excellently trained. "As improbable the chance someone had innate abilities. 'special powers', to awaken its mystical properties leading to my opportunistic cousin (you) associating with Miss Doomella in Sarasaland. Now I presume your memory is jogged."

Dark Ztar shrugged and relaxed in a way that infuriated everyone. "You know I have a life, mate. Was just getting a bit ov ol' fresh air when I hear the lass making ruckus. She was knocked up two decades ago she said. Erm- I mean 'woken up' for you younger folk. I just had to get her free from the owner of bell and- blimey! I'd finally have a lass on the arm, unlike you! Smooth ain't I?"

"As you were when Muskular put you in a choke hold you couldn't escape?" Eldstar teased flatly.

"Shut up! I forgot an extra bit. Doomella was in the backyard of that brown haired princess. So I used her subjects excavate. Here's the doozy, she didn't tell me she had a bit ov business to take care of. She need to kill off everyone responsible for reviving her. Full of beans but arse over tit and rubbish at it. I heard some of 'em escaped her wrath like.. five whole times! Plus, she'd failed centuries before and the ancient bloke wrote a book about it. I was miffed. I left home to the Dark Realm and watched tv again, completely minding my business and most definitely not planning more mischief in the future so you can let this bloke go. I promise!"

Eldstar appeared to think intensely. "Well, since you promise-"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the other stars blared, breaking their monk like character for the first time.

Eldstar grew a smile. "I was just checking if you all were awake back there!" He spun back to the dark star who was starting to shutter. "Now, Zach. I've dealt with your partner in crime, but I have a something else in mind for you. Like pets?"

Eldstar whistled and an earthquake began. Spires of rock fell in the wake of the approaching objects bouncing and prowling. Dark Ztar caught a glimpse of yellow, blue, and red, the color of the Underchomp, three monsters of fire and steel. He would know, they were natives of his own Realm and he was far away from the Piccolo flute at his house to calm them.

"How interesting," Eldstar thought over the manic screaming from his relative trying to climb up the rock walls while the chomps barked beneath. "If famished enough, the Underchomp while bite through solid rock. I should make note of that when ever I revise 'Ex spatio obiecti specialem Lexicon' again. I'll probably shed the gratuitous Latin as well."

..

.._Life is this string, material tightly wound, taught, knotted periodically, and stretching as f__ar away forever_...

The apparitional image was visible all over Star Hill. The band had a bounce to it, a rhythm.

.._The flexibility is on purpose. So be it anymore rigid the slightest shift of order and- disaster! Thus, there was a knot of Causalit__y. A fail safe, reality can wrap over itself and continue __onwards.._

"Thanks. It makes sense. Eldstar must have hired you to invent Time for a reason."

"Ah, well thank you back," Millennium Star replied. "Now I will stick to my part of the deal. The greater ones are still busy so forgive that I'm your only method of executing this sort of thing. I've heard my travel is 'rough'."

The human chuckled. "At this point any more trouble for us will seem like child's play."

"Ho ho! Then if that fancies you, later check out a difficult new planet near the Comic Observatory. It's called "Doom Star Galaxy"."

...

After sixty-four intense volleys back and forth over the net, the green tennis ball was sliced unhindered beyond two left feet. It continued to roll on the puffy cloud floor of the Overthere while Mario stared blankly. He then held his face in defeat while his rival guffawed, no longer The Enemy but _The Friend-_ albeit one you wanted to sucker punch pretty often. He'd keep it civil though for now. Their acre of heavenly land was mildly congested. Anyone losing their lives directly at the 'hand' or lightning bolt of the dark star ended up in the Overthere and the alternate timeline on Earth that might have rewritten their deaths was ineffective. They were completely incongruent with native angel like citizens, but diversity was always good!

"My score is still twenty more than yours, koopa." Mario pulled the white robe back up onto his shoulder, glancing towards their score keeper for verification. The young koopa troopa with distinctive tan lines from constantly wearing armor stood quickly.

"Mario, erm, sir. I ran out of room but I'll fix it." Tanner as he was, viciously scrubbed the black board covered with chalky scoring streaks. With that Mario called it off. It was dinner time anyway.

"You quit? Grrrrr! Fight me!" The Koopa King stomped into the dampening clouds, ruffling up his sweaty toga.

"-We've been going at it for a day straight, aren't you tired?" Mario argued. "The tennis game I mean," he clarified with a flush. "Besides, no sequels. That's your own quote."

Bowser sizzled out with a deep breath. "Hey you're right plumber. We only have… forever! Ha!" They split apart for a bit but then-

"I bethought it wast a most wondrous game while it did last, big bro!"

Mario felt his heart stop and the racket slipped from his fingers as Luigi was the first to rush towards him across the clouds. Just as he remembered, tall and weathered but with a with kindness and youth in his eyes, and super prepared for a trip with a bulky backpack strapped to him like a heavy shell.

The younger brother dropped the bag embraced him warmly, ruffling Mario's fluffy styled hair at the same time. "What's up?"

Mario remained speechless when Peach wrapped around him as well with tears streaming down her face. She had on her best pink dress. "Mario dear, why did I ever pack on heels- but oh who cares? How are you?"

"Over the moon cause I didn't think I'd see any of you again!" Mario gently pulled away to speak. "I mean anytime soon, the warp pipe system is incomplete. I thought I was going to have to wait until I patched it all up for you guys to visit. How'd you do it?"

"With a loooong cloud staircase, old friend." Yoshi had just caught up with a weak smile fighting against the visible exhaustion.

"To put it in perspective, we started after a big breakfast!" Luigi added. "I was prepared though." He unzipped the bag and a hoard of empty water bottles clashed together and spilled out. "Bro, this is awesome. I don't wanna leave but we can't stay long-"

"Oh yes-" Peach remembered. "We have that speech to give tomorrow."

"On what?" Mario begged.

"How they survived the quantum mechanics of a deranged koopaling's death machine," Yoshi explained. "It's a loooong story."

Everyone shared a laugh before Mario eased down. "If this is it for a while, good job. I know it can't be how it was but you'll have me around anytime you need, just go to Star Hill and.." he continued as his lip quivered. "Yoshi, you will be my best friend always. Peach. I've never met a better girl. Luigi… You'll be even better than I was. I love all of you."

The rest of their words reduced to a mutter too low to hear.

-And that annoyed Bowser who didn't really separate much because he was going to ask Mario to hang- Oh forget it. It was _too_ sickly sweet. Red eyes glued on the Mario bunch for seconds that felt longer, his blood failed to boil like he thought it might. Most bitterness had dissipate by the rules of mutual demise so Mario and co could kiss and hug all they wanted, he decided in introspection, a skill Bowser had gotten to practice a lot away from stresses of life.

"Daddy!" Junior screamed, running for his poppa. His visitors were now on his side of the tennis court. Contrasting Luigi's group, they were comfortable as they'd taken an Airship up the portal, yet taken just as long to arrive due to letting Kamek drive and not Kammy.

"Son!" Bowser was knocked onto his back. A true left fielder (wrong sport..), he assumed his own kind would be unwilling to see him.

Larry brushed Junior aside so he could stare down his dad face to face. The fifteen year old had a 'tell off' speech memorized, but in that moment heavy feelings floated away like the clouds hills they stood in. It was hard to hate the dead.

"I'm proud of you son no matter what," Bowser said before the he could start. "Spill it."

"Dad, I'm- I'm gonna grow up and go abroad and play for the world and do what I want and not be a freaking general or whatever," Larry mumbled sadly. "That's.. most of what I was gonna tell ya."

"Then live your life." Bowser got up and scanned the shocked faces of Junior, Larry, Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Kamek and Kammy. Whether it was from him being in their presence again or seeing him in a toga and with a wreath around his horns, he flashed a grin. "All of ya. I played dumb and I knew most of you all wanted to do somethin' else. Junior open that pet shop and drive your tank with lasers. Ludwig, travel with that loud band I can't stand and build that castle in Austria. Wherever the heck that is. Lemmy go and join that circus that's been trying to requite ya for years. Roy, it's okay to be a general and a Koopaball player too. I don't even care about the weekend parties ya want. Iggy, you have so much crap you've invented you deserve to be the next Bullet Bill Gates. Wendy, you should study what ya want. You can even be like president or somethin'. Throw whatever Kingly Law that states otherwise in the dump. Kammy, you hoarding as seen on tv stuff and driving the airship never actually bothered me. I thought they were good products and you always drove the fastest. Last, Kamek. Old man?"

"Yes, Lord Bowser?" The old magikoopa adjusted his glasses.

Bowser held up the a small perfume bottle with a pale liquid inside, Iggy's prototype 'womanizing spray'. "This passed over to the other side with me so thanks and that was a good tip back in Desert Land. The nimbi chicks love it. Plumber breath even says it smells great, better than that old cologne I threw on that he liked."

He family gawked at him anew. Bowser turned bleached white. He quickly launched the bottle to his fourth oldest son. "-Uh what I meant to say was go get rich off it it already," he recovered. The family sighed in relief.

"Vater, we accept," Ludwig started softly, one eyebrow raised. "But you _adored_ the Koopa Troop and now you are endorsing that we abandon it? I'm aware the canopy eases the soul, but is that really your wish?"

Bowser's forearm swept across his face to knock away the last of the sweat from the game, and that flash of vulnerability with it. "Wait, I got a final order as your old King and Father. All I want now is for all of you to be happy, whether it's following the KT way or not. All of the head butting in the past was my problem, not yours. I don't want you to end up how I did. Got it? And send a post card too." He faced Ludwig in particular.

"Yes Vater, but-" Ludwig paused. "Respectfully I request you address that order to the King."

Bowser's mouth hung for a second as Lemmy stepped forward and sat the crown he'd bashfully held in his paws until then atop his rainbow hair.

"I'm uh, yeah." Lemmy sniffed. "The King. I guess?"

"Don't guess, son. Ha! Flaunt it!" Bowser exclaimed more happily than he thought he'd ever. Of all of the eight! King Lemmy. Actually he could see it. The Koopa Troop's downfall wasn't lack of power, or fear, or influence. (Again Bowser's new thinking skills coming in. Fifty or so years late..) It was lack of perspective and sensitivity of the changing world around them. Who was better? Junior might have looked the part most and loved of chaos, Ludwig the most superior brain and fanaticism for the cause, and he was sure any of the others would pull their weight if need but Lemmy.. He had outside thinking and modesty.. and proposals.

But don't ever mix the last two again!

…

Tanner sucked up a ton of air and blew the white dust from the board which had gradually migrated to him. Clean, he dropped the eraser, satisfied in the way hard work always did to him. Too bad military time didn't count in the Overthere and it'd been longer than he imagined. The tennis court was abandoned featuring no Mario or Bowser, none of the other dark star victims from the Troop he'd had distant comradery with while living, and not even the cordial yet uptight nimbi. Solitude he was used to, typically standing guard for some door or gate or bridge or the last slice of pizza in most desperate times.

Oh well. Work was never really wasted, even if the benefit would be for another day. That was his own motto and not one from boot camp. There was a Turkish bath near- which he'd never heard of- but it was a thing to do and everyone always spoke about it in a hush so-

"Don't bro. You're too innocent for the freaky stuff!" an unmistakably low dryish voice called.

Before Tanner was halfway down the cloud hills, he whipped around and choked up at the sight of two people.

"Stop crying." Zoo punched him in his stomach with his left arm as his right was slightly amputated. Tanner brushed it off, hardly feeling it.

"You have glasses, dude!" Tanner exclaimed as a toad girl hugged him tightly. "And- oh my God. A girl just touched me for a second time!"

Emery added her own tears of joy. "Don't listen to stubby. I'm totally happy you're not gone forever!"

Zoo gave a short grunt, sliding the thick rimmed glasses back up his face. "I've known him longer than you, bro. I know family, favorite movies, his Play Koopa… anyway back off."

Emery made a face at him. "Which of us has the crush again?"

"You have a-" Tanner became bright red, redder than his horrible tan lines.

…

"Bowser. I even missed you- Oh come here!" The last reunion, Peach crossed over to the baffled koopa an hug. Unlike ever before, there was nary a hint of disgust and she reached her delicate fingers around Bowser's toga, pulling her ex-kidnapper close. Rifts between her Mario and Bowser were gone, along with tense familial situations and the collective group of Mario and co. would never bicker again. Almost.

**THE END**

**Author note: Yep. I was going to have a second epilogue where we go back in time to see the true story of Dr. Mario curing the first Mushroom Flu. There are unused scraps of material where I was going to write that but I've lost a chunk and I think this is complete as it. See the supplementary materials on my website (see profile) so get some more information on what would have happened there. **

**Created: 2/11/20, 3/1/20, 3/3, 3/4, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22**


End file.
